Our Desk | Call recordings with phone scammers

Julie Zhu

An anonymous source (below referred to as ‘S’) provided the following call minutes from a call with phone scammers.

The first criminal (below referred to as 1) has a strong southern Chinese accent (most likely not a ‘Canton’ Mandarin accent), spoke in poor Mandarin, with a panicked tone, and reacted slowly to almost all questions and comments posed.

The second criminal (below referred to as 2) spoke in Mandarin with a strong Taiwanese accent, although similar accents can be found among speakers of Fujian dialects.

1: We are the immigration department. Why did you call?

S: I did not call, you called me.

1: Why did we call you? To give you a notice or what? I checked. Indeed, we, the immigration department called you to give you a notice. Please listen carefully. The Fujian province, the Fujian city, and the police department issued a notice to us because, on December 24, you helped a person named Chen Li Mei get a Travel Document to Hong Kong and Macau from the police department in Fuzhou, Fujian. Is it true?

S: I did not.

1: Do you know a lady called Chen Li Mei?

S: I don’t.

1: If you don’t know, how come Fujian issued us a notice to carry out border control against you?

S: I have no idea. I don’t know this person. I did not do it either.

1: Lady, I must tell you, if you don’t handle this case today, your departures and arrivals will have been blocked by customs by the end of the day.

S: Well, what can I do? It is not me.

1: The important thing is that the customs seized a lot of unclear identification cards and credit cards from this lady named Chen Li Mei. She said it was you who helped her process her Hong Kong and Macau travel document. Fujian police suspect that you are a co-suspect. […]

S: It is not me. Absolutely not me.

1: Our conversation is all recorded. […] She left a number to us and it happens to be your number. What do you plan to do?

S: Well, I must go to the police station, right?

1: Your case took place in Fujian, if you want to go, you have to go to Fujian police. Are you in Macau?

S: Yes. I am in Macau.

1: Are you able to go to Fujian on time?

S: I have to, right?

1: It’s better that you arrive there before 4 p.m. today.

[It was already 1 p.m. at the time of the call.]

1: Otherwise, border control will bring trouble into your life and work.

S: What should I do?

1: Do you need our assistance? If you do, we will forward your call to the Fujian police department.

S: Of course, of course.

1: When the call is connected, you should say: “my name is ***, and I received a phone call from the Macau Pac On immigration department, upon which I realized that a lady called Chen Li Mei said I helped her doing something. Now she has committed a crime.”

S: You want me to tell the police exactly these words? But I did not do it!

1: You just need to tell the office as I said, and they will know. […]

2: You said you can’t be in Fuzhou, where are you now?

S: Macau.

2: You are in Macau. You are not in Fuzhou?

S: No.

2: Therefore, indeed, it will be difficult for you to come. […] I can take phone notes for you. It will also be legal. […]

S: Ok.

2: I have to remind you that since your personal information has been leaked, we will proceed with an investigation. We need your cooperation. Try as much as possible to not leak information regarding this case in the next three days. Don’t tell people that your information was leaked. Pretend that you don’t know.