In recent years, the Ministry of Public Security has focused on telecommunications network fraud crimes that the people deeply hate, and continued to organize and carry out a series of crackdown actions such as "Cloud Sword", "Card Breaking", "Broken Flow" and "Nail Pulling", and coordinated the promotion of various measures to crack down, prevent and control the construction, and achieved remarkable results in cracking down on governance, and the rising momentum of telecommunications network fraud has been effectively curbed.
At present, fraudsters are trying to evade the crackdown of the public security organs on the one hand, and on the other hand, they are constantly renovating the methods and methods of fraud, and the criminal situation is still grim and complex.
According to statistics, in 2023, the average age of telecom network fraud victims will be 37 years old, 62.1% will be between 18 and 40 years old, and 33.1% will be between 41 and 65 years old, and 10 common types of telecom network fraud, such as rebates, fake online investment and financial management, fake shopping services, fake charging business logistics customer service, and false credit information, will account for nearly 88.4% of the cases. The largest amount of loss was caused by fake online investment and wealth management fraud, and the number of fake shopping service fraud cases increased significantly, ranking third.
01
Rebate scams
Rebate fraud is still the most variant and fastest-changing type of fraud, mainly in the form of compound frauds such as recruitment of part-time jobs and online pornography to induce fraud.
After deceiving the victim's trust, the fraudster tricks the victim into doing the task with "the more you recharge, the more rebate", and then tricks the victim into transferring money continuously under the pretext of "connecting orders" and "card orders". The number of cases and losses caused by this type of fraud is the first, and most of the people who are deceived are school students, low-income groups and unemployed people.
[Typical Case 1]
In March 2023, Cao, a man from Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, was pulled into a WeChat group and grabbed a few red envelopes when he found that someone in the group was sending red envelopes. Subsequently, someone in the group sent a link to induce him to download the APP, claiming that he could get more benefits by entering the advanced group.
After joining the so-called senior group, Cao found that the members of the group were sending screenshots of the receipt of payments, so he began to swipe orders under the guidance of the group administrator.
After Cao completed the multi-order task to receive the commission, he withdrew all the money to the bank card, and just when he wanted to continue to do the task to make money, the group administrator said that the task he would do was a combination order, and he had to complete 4 orders before he could withdraw money.
After Cao increased his investment one after another as required, the group administrator tricked him into transferring a total of 420,000 yuan to the designated account under the pretext of "operation error" and "account frozen". Due to the delay in the cashback, Cao found out that he had been deceived.
02
Fake online investment and wealth management scams
Fraudsters mainly publish and promote investment and financial information such as stocks, foreign exchange, futures, and virtual currencies through online platforms, text messages, and other channels, attract target groups to join group chats, and gain the trust of victims through various methods such as chatting and exchanging investment experience, pulling in internal "investment" group chats, and listening to live classes of "investment experts" and "mentors".
On this basis, fraudsters induce victims to make small investments in specific fake websites and apps under the guise of having inside information, mastering loopholes, and lucrative returns, and then induce them to continuously increase their investment. When the victim invests a large amount of money, the fraudster often makes up various reasons to refuse to withdraw money, and instead asks the victim to continue to invest until all the top-up money is defrauded.
There are also some fraudsters who deceive victims into trusting them through online dating, and then defraud them by inducing false investment and financial management. Most of the victims of this type of fraud are single people with certain income and assets, or groups who are keen on investment and stock trading.
[Typical Case 2]
In March 2023, Zhang, a woman from Fuyang, Anhui Province, met Li on a blind date website and confirmed that she was in a boyfriend and girlfriend relationship. Li claimed to be a staff member of a foreign exchange investment institution and had internal investment data, so he asked Zhang to help him log in to the investment platform to invest because it was inconvenient for him to operate.
Under the inducement of Li, Zhang made many investments and made profits. Subsequently, on the pretext of laying a material foundation for the future life of the two people, Li tricked Zhang into registering an account on the platform to invest and make money. In accordance with the requirements, Zhang transferred more than 100 yuan to the designated bank card many times, and continued to invest and make profits under the guidance of Li. At this time, the customer service of the platform said that Zhang was suspected of arbitrage by using internal information to operate in violation of regulations, and the account had been frozen, and a fine should be paid, otherwise the account funds would be confiscated.
Zhang was worried that the income could not be withdrawn, and after discussing with Li, he decided to pay a "fine" of more than 40 yuan according to the requirements of customer service. After Zhang paid the "fine", the account was still unable to log in and withdraw money, so he realized that he had been deceived.
03
Fake shopping and service fraud
Fraudsters publish false advertisements such as low-price discounts, overseas purchasing agents, and zero-yuan shopping on WeChat groups, Moments, online shopping platforms, or other websites, as well as advertisements that provide special services such as essay writing, private detectives, and tracking and positioning.
After contacting the victim, the fraudster induces the victim to add friends through WeChat, QQ or other social media to discuss and request a private transfer on the grounds that the transaction can save fees or is more convenient.
After the victim pays, the fraudster tricks the victim into continuing to transfer money on the grounds of paying customs duties, deposits, transaction taxes, handling fees, etc., and finally blocks them.
[Typical Case 3]
In April 2024, Wang, a woman from Panzhihua, Sichuan, found a company that sold surveying and mapping instruments when browsing the website, which met her needs in all aspects, so she contacted the customer service staff through the contact information reserved by the other party, and the customer service said that private transactions could save a quarter of the cost.
Wang believed it and signed a so-called "purchase contract" with him. After Wang paid a deposit of more than 13,000 yuan, the other party refused to deliver the goods and said that he still needed to pay handling fees, storage fees and other fees, so he realized that he had been deceived.
04
Impersonating the logistics customer service scams of charging companies
After the fraudster obtains the victim's shopping information through illegal channels, he pretends to be an e-commerce platform or logistics express customer service, falsely claiming that the victim has a quality problem with the goods purchased online, needs to make a claim for the loss of the express delivery, or needs to reactivate the store due to the removal of the product due to product violations, etc., induces the victim to provide information such as bank card and mobile phone verification code, and evades the supervision of the formal platform by sharing the screen or downloading the APP, so as to trick the victim into transferring and remitting money.
Most of the victims of this type of fraud are online shoppers or store operators on e-commerce platforms.
[Typical Case 4]
In October 2023, Zhang, a woman from Yibin, Sichuan, received a strange call from a person claiming to be a "logistics customer service", saying that she needed to make a claim due to the loss of Zhang's express.
Zhang immediately checked a shopping app and found that the logistics of a product had not been updated, so he believed it and added customer service WeChat. Subsequently, the "customer service" sent a link to Zhang, asking him to download a chat APP and a bank APP to "settle a claim".
After Zhang operated according to the requirements, the "customer service" said that his account was frozen by the wrong operation, and he needed to enter the "code" in the bank APP to unfreeze it, which was actually a fraudster tricking Zhang into a transfer operation. After receiving the bank transfer text message, Zhang found that it was abnormal, and then found that he had been deceived.
05
Fake loan scams
Fraudsters release information such as "low-interest loans" and "fast arrivals" through websites, phone calls, text messages, social platforms and other channels to lure victims into going to the consultation. After pretending to be a staff member of a bank or financial company, he contacted the victim, falsely claiming that he could "no collateral", "no credit investigation", "quick loan", etc., to lure the victim to download a fake loan app or log in to a fake website, and then tricked the victim into transferring money on the grounds of charging "handling fees", "security deposits" and "agency fees".
Fraudsters also often trick victims into sending their bank cards for the transfer of funds involved in the case on the grounds of "swiping the flow of funds for capital verification". Most of the victims of this type of fraud are people who have urgent loan needs and are in urgent need of capital turnover.
[Typical Case 5]
In May 2024, Wang, a man from Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, received a text message about a low-interest loan at home, and Wang clicked on the link and downloaded an APP according to the operation guide.
After Wang filled in his personal information on the loan APP and registered, he wanted to withdraw the loan to the bank card. At this time, the loan APP shows that the bank card is wrong, and the platform customer service says that the loan amount is frozen and needs to pay an unfreezing fee.
Subsequently, Wang transferred more than 60,000 yuan to the bank account provided by him, but he was never able to withdraw the loan, so he realized that he had been deceived.
06
False credit fraud
Fraudsters pretend to be customer service personnel of banks and financial institutions, falsely claiming that the victim has previously opened services such as millions of guarantees, gold bars, and white bars through platforms such as WeChat, Alipay, and JD.com, or that accounts such as campus loans and student loans have not been cancelled in a timely manner, or that credit payment tools such as credit cards, Huabei, and borrows have bad records, and relevant services, accounts, or relevant records need to be cancelled, otherwise personal credit will be seriously affected.
Subsequently, the fraudsters induce the victim to take out a loan on an online loan platform or an internet financial app and transfer it to an account designated by the fraudsters on the pretext of eliminating bad credit records and verifying their records, so as to defraud the victims.
[Typical Case 6]
In September 2023, Zheng, a man from Meishan, Sichuan, received a call from his home claiming to be Alipay's "customer service", claiming that the Huabei service opened by Zheng as a student during his college years was not compliant, and if it was not handled through formal channels, it would affect his credit investigation.
Zheng carried out the so-called emptying of the loan according to the inducement of "customer service", authenticated the loan on different APPs, and then transferred the loan to the designated account, and was defrauded of more than 140,000 yuan.
07
Impersonate leaders and acquaintances to defraud
Fraudsters use the photos and names of the victim's leaders and acquaintances to package social accounts, and by adding the victim as a friend or pulling them into a WeChat chat group, etc., they pretend to use the identity of the leader or acquaintance to express concern for the victim's warmth, or imitate the tone of the leader, teacher and other people to issue instructions, so as to deceive the victim's trust, and then falsely claim that they have transferred a certain amount of money to the victim's account on the grounds that it is inconvenient to come forward or answer the phone, and ask them to transfer money to others on their behalf.
In order to deceive the victim, the fraudster will also send a fake screenshot of the successful transfer, but in fact it did not make any transfer operations. Out of trust in the "leader" and "acquaintance", most of the victims believe it without identity verification, believing that the "leader" or "acquaintance" has transferred money to their own accounts.
Subsequently, the fraudsters kept urging the victims to transfer money to the designated account as soon as possible under the pretext of time urgency, etc., so as to defraud the victims. This type of fraud usually takes advantage of the victim's trust in the leader's acquaintance and neglects to verify his or her identity.
[Typical Case 7]
In January 2024, Fang, a woman from Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, received a message from a user on Weibo, the user's avatar and name were exactly the same as her sister, and Fang thought that her sister was looking for her.
The other party said that the mobile phone card was cancelled, and other software could not be logged in, so he asked Fang to help send an email to inquire whether a brand-name bag he had booked was successful. The customer service replied that the package had been ordered and the balance needed to be paid.
At the request of the "sister", Fang paid the final payment in advance according to the customer service requirements, and then the customer service asked Fang's sister to transfer the money again on the grounds that she needed to pay the price of another package to enjoy the discount after ordering two packages. After Fang transferred 2 times, the customer service also asked for a deposit, and then realized that he had been deceived.
08
Impersonation of public prosecutors, prosecutors, and government agencies
Fraudsters pretend to be staff of public security organs, government departments, etc., contact the victim by phone, WeChat, QQ, etc., and threaten and intimidate the victim on the grounds that the victim is suspected of money laundering, illegal entry and exit, courier possession of drugs, passport problems, etc., and demand cooperation with the investigation and strict confidentiality, and at the same time show the victim false legal documents such as arrest warrants, wanted warrants, and property freeze letters to increase credibility.
In order to cut off the victim's contact with the outside world, fraudsters usually ask the victim to work in an enclosed space such as a hotel, and trick him into transferring all his funds to a so-called "safe account".
[Typical Case 8]
In May 2024, Du, a woman from Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, received a video call at home claiming to be a police officer from the Criminal Investigation Detachment of the Wuxi Public Security Bureau.
In the video, a fake "policeman" in uniform said that Du's bank card was suspected of money laundering and needed his cooperation with the investigation. Du downloaded the conference software for screen sharing as required, and cooperated with the "police" to verify the funds in the bank card. The "policeman" said that Du needed to transfer the funds in the bank card to a designated "safe account" in order to prove his innocence.
During this period, in order to prove that the flow of funds was normal, the "policeman" also asked Du to borrow 150,000 yuan through the bank and transfer it to the "safe account". After being discovered by his family, Du realized that he had been deceived.
09
Online marriage and dating scams
Fraudsters create excellent personas on dating and dating websites, establish contact with victims, use photos and pre-designed false identities to deceive victims' trust, and operate long-term romantic relationships with them, and then ask victims for money on the grounds that they are in urgent need of money due to changes and difficulties in project capital turnover, and constantly change reasons according to their financial resources to make transfer requests until the victims realize that they have been deceived.
[Typical Case 9]
In 2016, Wu, a man from Hongkou, Shanghai, met Yang, a woman who claimed to have just graduated from college, on the Internet, and the two quickly established a relationship online.
In the following 8 years, Yang used online photos to deceive Wu's trust many times, fabricated tragic family situations such as his mother's sudden illness and ineffective death, and used Wu's sympathy to constantly ask for money.
Until April 2024, Wu found that the photos posted on the account associated with Yang's mobile phone number were not the same person as him, so he found out that he had been deceived and was defrauded of more than 160 yuan in total.
10
Fraudulent transactions of online game products
Fraudsters publish advertisements for buying and selling online game accounts, props, and point cards on social media and game platforms, as well as information such as obtaining game props and participating in lottery activities for free and at low prices
After contacting the victim, the fraudsters induce the victim to bypass the formal platform to conduct private transactions on the grounds that the private transaction is cheaper and more convenient, or trick the victim into participating in the lucky draw, and then ask the victim to pay the "registration fee", "unfreezing fee" and "membership fee" on the grounds of operation error or insufficient level, and then block the victim after succeeding.
[Typical Case 10]
In February 2023, when Wang, a man from Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, was selling his mobile game account through a mobile game trading app, he received a fraudster impersonating a "buyer" to add friends, and the two parties agreed to trade the account for 830 yuan after a private chat.
Subsequently, the fraudster sent a screenshot of a fake transaction containing a QR code, falsely claiming that the order had been successfully placed, and asked Wang to scan the code and contact the official customer service for confirmation. After Wang scanned the code and entered the fake platform, he was defrauded of 6,000 yuan by the so-called customer service by paying a transaction margin.
Source: Criminal Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security