Unfortunately we’ve been made aware of another scam targeting Chinese students. This time, the person on the phone is claiming to be the Assembly of China and accuses the student of money laundering crimes.
Rather than asking for payment they just ask for personal details of bank accounts. It appears to be a very sophisticated scam; the student is given a case ID number and given a website to access. When they enter the case ID into the site they’ll be shown an authentic-looking (fake) case that’s supposedly from the highest court in China alongside their own photograph from National ID card. Funds are then taken from their bank account.
The case we’ve heard about resulted in a student losing £7,000, but the Chinese Embassy has said most sums are much larger.
Please be reminded and staff should remind students to be careful and vigilant with calls from unknown numbers. In this case the initial phonecall is from a UK number, but they’re asked to call a Chinese number.