Deceived by fake Chinese police

Chinese people around the world are being targeted in an elaborate scam in which criminals impersonate Chinese police officers. A Chinese-British woman has told the BBC she gave her life savings to a scammer who wore a uniform on a video call and took her on a virtual tour of what appeared to be a police station.

Helen Young still has nightmares about the two weeks she was on China’s most wanted fugitive list.

Scammers impersonated Chinese police officers and manipulated the London-based accountant into believing she was under investigation for a massive fraud in her home country.

Helen receives a flood of fabricated evidence that seems to implicate her in a crime she knows nothing about.

When fake police threatened to extradite her to a jail cell in China, Helen sent them £29,000 of her life savings as “bail” in a desperate attempt to stay in the UK.

“I feel kind of stupid right now,” she said. “But there’s no way I know that’s not true. It’s so convincing.”

Helen’s story may sound unusual, but there are many similar cases among overseas Chinese.

Chinese embassies around the world have issued public warnings about police impersonation scams, and the FBI has also issued warnings following a number of cases in the United States. An elderly woman in Los Angeles reportedly handed over $3 million, believing it would prevent her from being extradited.

Typically, these scams start with the target receiving a relatively harmless phone call. In Helen’s case, a person claiming to be a Chinese customs official told her they had intercepted an illegal package sent in her name.

Helen did not send anything and was told that if she thought someone had stolen her identity she must report it to the police. Despite her misgivings, Helen didn’t hang up the phone.

“Chinese people like me because we were born and raised in China and we were taught to obey,” she said. “So when the party asks me to do something or my parents ask me to do something, I rarely say no.”

Helen was transferred to a man named “Officer Fang” who claimed to be a Shenzhen police officer. Helen demands evidence and he suggests they have a video call. When they got through, Helen saw a uniformed man whose face matched the police ID he showed.

Officer Fang then used his cell phone to show her around what appeared to be a fully functional police station, complete with several uniformed officers and a table with a large police logo.

“At that moment all my doubts disappeared. So I said: ‘Sorry, I have to be careful now, there are a lot of criminals out there’,” Helen said.

While talking, Helen heard a message coming from the background, asking Officer Fang to answer the call about her.

Officer Fang detained her and when she returned, she was no longer interested in the illegal package. He said that he had learned that Helen was suspected of being involved in a large-scale financial fraud.

“I said: ‘That’s nonsense’. No one said they were guilty,” he said. “So the evidence is what matters.”

Helen received what appeared to be a bank statement with a large amount of money in her name. Officer Fang told her that if she was innocent, she must help them catch the real liar. He asked her to sign a confidentiality agreement promising not to tell anyone about the investigation. Helen was warned that if she did so she would be jailed for an additional six months

“He said: ‘If you tell anyone that you are being questioned by the Chinese police, your life will be in danger’.”

The scammers also had Helen download an app so they could monitor what she was doing day and night.

Over the next few days, Helen tried to act normal at work. She spent her evenings writing a personal statement, which she was asked to write, detailing every aspect of her life.

Officer Fang then called back to report that several suspects had been captured. He produced her written statement in which several people accused her.

Helen receives a video that appears to show a male prisoner confessing to police that she was his superior in the fraud case.

We watched the video carefully, and since the suspect was wearing a large COVID-19 mask, it was impossible to tell whether what you heard matched his lip movements. It would be easy to add a fake soundtrack that mentions Helen’s name or other victims.

But for Helen – who had always been convinced that she was dealing with real police – the impact was devastating: “When I heard my name, I wanted to throw up. It convinced me that I was in deep trouble. Deep trouble.

When Officer Fang told Helen she would be extradited to China, Helen believed him – even though she was a British citizen.

“He told me: ‘So you have 24 hours to pack your bags. The police are here to pick you up and take you to the airport.

Helen was told that if she could raise her bail, she could stop the extradition. After sending her bank statements for inspection, she was told that £29,000 was to be transferred.

“I feel bad because I promised my daughter I would give her money to buy her first apartment,” Helen said.

But a few days later, the fake police officers returned. Helen was ordered to find another £250,000 or face extradition: “I’m fighting for my life – if I go back to China I may never come back.”

After Helen tried to borrow money from a friend, he informed her daughter. Helen breaks down and reveals everything. But before doing so, she put the phone in a kitchen drawer, took her daughter into the bedroom and covered their heads with a duvet so the scammers couldn’t eavesdrop.

The daughter listened patiently and explained that it was a scam. Helen’s bank eventually refunded her money, but her ordeal likely had a more tragic ending: “I barely slept for two weeks. How can you sleep when someone is monitoring your phone?”

She crashed her car twice while sleep-deprived. The second time, she completely ruined everything: “I didn’t kill anyone, but I could have. These types of criminal scams can kill people.”

Other victims of police impersonation scams are pushed to more extreme situations.

In some special cases, some Chinese students who were unable to meet the financial requirements of the fake police were persuaded to fake the fact that they had been kidnapped in order to obtain ransom from their families.

New South Wales Police Detective Superintendent Joe Doueihi has launched a publicity campaign to warn against so-called virtual or online kidnappings following a series of cases across Australia.

“Victims were forced to make videos of themselves in vulnerable positions to make it look like they had been kidnapped – with ketchup strapped to their bodies, looking like they were bleeding, and calling for help from their loved ones,” he said.

Students were then ordered to self-isolate while scammers sent the images to family members in China, demanding ransom.

Scam victims may also find themselves being manipulated into helping defraud others.

“Scammers will trick victims into believing they work for the Chinese government. They will send them documents and have them swear an oath to become a Chinese police officer.

He said the victim may have given the money to a criminal who was sent to spy on or intimidate other Chinese students in Australia.

Experts believe many of these scams are run by Chinese organized crime groups from compounds in countries such as Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos.

Chinese state media reported that tens of thousands of suspects were deported to China last year.

Awareness of this type of scam is growing. We interviewed a Japanese student who realized he was being targeted by a criminal and recorded their conversation.

He asked not to be named but shared the recording with the BBC. In it, the scammer told him that if he revealed any information about the phone calls to anyone, he would jeopardize the “investigation.” He refused to hand over any money and they stopped pursuing him.

He knew he had a narrow escape: “I never thought this would happen to me. Be careful when you get a call from a number you don’t recognize.”