Compared with the female star, Tang Wei (Rebecca), who has suffered a loss of RMB 210,000 in a phone fraud case, the ordinary depositors of Industrial Bank (IB) are much lucky. As learnt by the reporter from IB, in the first two weeks of January 2014, two phone fraud cases involving RMB 2.5 million were blocked by IB Wuhan Branch successfully. Of the 26 phone fraud cases discovered by IB in 2013, 25 were blocked successfully, and the Bank saved more than RMB 2.5 million for depositors.
“Upon the coming Spring Festival, swindlers are seeking some money for the festival, and all business outlets of our bank have intensified our blocking efforts.” The person-in-charge of the Supervision and Security Department of IB told the reporter that phone fraud cases had a tendency of increasing proportion in banking cases in recent years. “Mainly resorting to short message or telephone, outlaws make up various identities and excuses to defraud victims of their ID card numbers, bank card numbers and passwords or directly require them to make remittance or transfer, so as to cheat them out of money.”
Although there are many fraudulent means, the reporter discovers that the two general practices resorted to by swindlers frequently are to make use of the mentality of being fearful and avaricious.
Imitating Officers of “Police, Procuratorate and Court” to Asking for Money
It has become a primary means of phone fraud to imitate officers of “police, procuratorate and court” to intimidate victims with threatening words and cause fear to victims.
Recently, the details about the phone fraud happened to the female celebrity, Tang Wei, during her shooting period in Shanghai, in which she was defrauded of RMB 210,000. It is reported that Tang Wei answered a fraudulent call which was pretended to be from the police, and then she go through the transfer formalities with the bank as required.
Not alone but in pairs, previously Guo Xiulan, a citizen of Beijing, even answered a call far from an officer of “Shanghai Police". On the phone, a “policeman surnamed Zhu from Shanghai Public Security Bureau” claimed, in stern terms, that Guo Xiulan had got involved into a large drugs trafficking case, required her to report her deposits, and transfer her deposits to the internal account of the “State Council”, which would be transferred back to her after the case was investigated thoroughly. Otherwise, all her deposits would be rendered into the “national treasury” upon discovery. The “policeman” also stressed that she should neither tell her kids this thing, nor care the inquiry of the Bank.
Guo Xiulan was very scared then, and told “Policeman Zhu” her deposits in IB. Then, as required, she came to the business outlet of Wangjing Sub-branch, IB Beijing Branch to transfer her deposits. Liu Yanhui, a teller of the sub-branch, discovered that Guo Xiulan seemed very anxious. After inquiring about the situation, she found that it was a case of phone fraud. She appeased and persuaded Guo Xiulan not to make remittance, and called 110. With the joint analysis of officers of the bank and police officers to the case, Guo Xiulan finally believed that it was a case of phone fraud.
In this regard, Liu Jun, a wealth management manager of IB Hefei Branch, had a great feeling. One day in December 2013, wearing a strained expression, Pu Fang, a customer of Liu Jun, came to the VIP wealth management room. She said that she had answered a call from an officer of the telecom office, who claimed that she had RMB 17,555 in arrears with her credit card and she would be arrested if she didn't pay off the said arrears. At the beginning, Pu Fang express her doubt on the claim because she hadn't applied for any credit card. However, the other party gave her a phone number of a public security bureau. After calling the phone number, with the enticement and deception by a “policeman Yang”, Pu Fang disclosed her relevant information. Based on his knowledge on financial security, Liu Jun judged that it was a typical case of phone fraud and lost no time to report the branch, and explained the case to Pu Fang with great patience. In this way, she avoided her loss of money.
Temptation of “Wealth”
As learnt by the reporter through investigation, besides imitating officers of “police, procuratorate and court” to cause fear to victims, outlaws also try to cheat victims out of money with the temptation of high returns by making use of greediness of people.
After learning from others that a website provided some “wealth management products” of high interest rate up to 20%, Zhou Yunsheng, a Shanghai citizen of 80 years old, became very excited. As required by an employee of the website, he came to the business office of IB Shanghai Branch to request activating the internet banking service, and then planned to give his user name, password and U-key to the employee of the website. When Chen Shixian, a teller of IB, asked Zhou Yunsheng whether he needed to apply for a U-key or SMS password, he indicated that he needed to ask others because it was applied not for his own use. Chen Shixian became alert immediately and reported the situation to Wu Hao, the chief authorization officer. With the repeated reminding and persuasion, Zhou Yunsheng gave up the idea temporarily, but left with disappointment. The business office of the branch reported the situation of the day to the accounting division and reminded surrounding business outlets pay attention to the situation.
About 3 o'clock in the next afternoon, Zhou Yunsheng appeared again, requesting to withdraw cash of RMB 50,000. He also said that he called the website after going home yesterday, and the other party told him that the bank's officers persuaded him because all the wealth management products of the bank were not as good as those provided on the website and they were afraid of losing their customers. The website also told that he should not care about officers of the bank, and it would be ok to withdraw cash directly and deposit his money into a personal account of China Construction Bank. Knowing the circumstance, tellers on duty including Chen Shixian and Lin Li and the chief officers admonished the elder with patience, and contacted the anti-deception police officer of the community. After arriving at the site, the police officer reminded and counseled the old man against his act, and affirmed the practice of IB. Finally, the old man realized the trap and deposited the cash into the bank again on the site.
In confrontation with various means of phone fraud emerging one after another, the person-in-charge of the Supervision and Security Department of IB indicates, the major targets of current phone fraud are the elders, female or migrant workers receiving limited education. The Bank has taken active countermeasures for close blocking, firmly protecting the funds security of customers. “First, summarize cases and promote practice experience in blocking fraud; second, make extensive popularization and publicity for knowledge against banking-related phone fraud and other forms of deception; third, remind customers of notices about funds security repetitively.”
(as required by the interviewees, all names are pseudonyms)