All scams are horrible, but what is going on here is particularly horrible, says the ACCC’s Catriona Lowe, as international students scammed of $8 million.
Chinese international students are being targeted by sophisticated scams that have so far resulted in nearly $8 million being handed over to con artists posing as Chinese police and officials.
Vicki Thomson, chief executive of the Group of Eight, which represents the universities that enrol three-quarters of all Chinese students studying in Australia, wrote to the Chinese Embassy on Friday to request a meeting to discuss the situation as reports become more frequent and increasingly alarming.and based on extortion and fear of arrest,” Ms Thomson said.
People dressed as Chinese police have even physically turned up to a student’s residence to threaten them.The scam works by the perpetrators making a phone call to the victim, pretending to be from a phone company or bank to tell them they have been identified as being part of a scam or financial crime.
The student is then threatened with extradition or deportation back to China, but is offered the chance to remain while an investigation takes place on condition of a payment.Ms Lowe said the scam involved phone calls from many people and sometimes video calls with what appear to be Chinese police.
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