HONG KONG SCAM ALERT!
Listen up, what you’re about to read is my very recent first-hand encounter with a scammer from Hong Kong and hopefully you’ll do the right thing by warning your family and friends before these unscrupulous crooks have a field day with their next targets! Warning: long post!
Screenshot of Scammer’s web page.
Footer: Copyright 1987—2007. All Right Reserved.
Translation: Conning Right since 1987. If I have anything to do with this, it ends 2007 !!
Day 1—The Introduction
Just under a week ago, I received a phone call from a lady who claimed she represents Hong Kong TachAsia Leisure Centre and she had called me (at my home number!) to conduct a market survey. First thing I’d noticed was her strong mainland Chinese accent which she later said she’s from Taiwan and had just returned to her birth place, Hong Kong to work for this organisation. The questions she asked were basic enough to warrant an innocent knee-jerk response such as my name, marital status, profession and so forth–the typical answers to a typical market survey questionnaire. This was Day 1.
Day 2—The Follow Up
The same lady called again and pretended she didn’t get my name spelt correctly and she needed to ensure their ‘client’ database is accurate. After ’successful completion’ I was asked to (and she insisted that I) make a note of my lucky number A56118 and added that the company was doing this research to provide data which would lead up to the opening of their subsidiary office in Brunei. At this point, asking her questions concerning where this new office was going to open and when returned no useful or meaningful answer.
Day 3—Relentless
The caller persisted with yet another phone call and this time in her further attempt to create an atmosphere of trust and credibility, she said to watch a programme to air on one of the Astro channels between 5—6 pm. Their company allegedly hosted a grand lucky draw where Hong Kong celebrity Andy Lau would officiate the event (see the connection between my LUCKY number and where this is leading to?). I did not bother to find out if the programme was for real as I had more important things on my mind.
Day 4—Feeling Lucky
The caller delightfully rang (by now, I had gotten quiet sick of her voice and the frequency of her calls were like clock work—devilishly predictable). This is the best part, she announced that I was one of the very fortunate winners out of 5 other winners to have won second prize of B$67,500 cash. First prize was a BMW that had been won by someone in mainland China. She said there were two other winners in Brunei, one in Singapore and another in Malaysia all of whom had also won cash prizes of the same amount. What do you think happened next, after this alleged great news? She needed my bank account number so she could wire me my money. No harm here in giving her my account number. By now, this was becoming too good a news to be remotely true! Here, she ended the conversation with a heart-warming congratulatory note. She added (with a touch of envy) that Bruneians are so lucky to have a generous Sultan who looks after his people.
Day 5—The Catch!
She called to inform me that there is a temporary road-block to getting my money wired to Brunei. She continued that the Hong Kong government required all wire transfers be verified as a measure to curb the rampant money laundering cases (quite the irony!). In order to quickly facilitate this (this is where it got very interesting), I had to have a letter to certify that I was a legit winner and in order to obtain this letter, I would need to wire a sum equivalent to 4.3% of my prize money to a legal entity appointed by them. I was given two transfer options: Telegraphic Transfer or Western Union, the latter of which is quicker and I would receive the money sooner too! Sensing my hesitation and stammering between words, she said I needed to make a decision soon on order for her to secure a a busy legal representative … moments later, I agreed with the telegraphic transfer option and she was able to miraculously give me a name of an independent rep who isn’t associated to her organization in any way. At this point, I was close to puking at the extend of her lies which after almost a week, seemed no end!
Later part of Day 5 – Revelation
By lunch time, she had spilled more than she should have and at this juncture, in order to get my money (B$2,900) it had to be a bank account to transfer wire the money to and this individual was: TAN YAU BOON whose bank account number 0136 0010 3125 21 had an account with CIMB BANK in Malaysia. She also reminded me to call her (a Ms Lim Mei Hua at Hong Kong number 00852 30658450). Armed with this information, I immediately fired an email to CIMB Bank. Within the next business day I received the following response …
Dear Jan Shim,
Thank you for your email.
We wish to inform you that we have forwarded your email to our higher level management for further investigation (under suspected fraud case). Please be extra careful and do not transfer funds to any unknown parties.
We highly appreciate on your action to highlight this matter to us for our investigation and further action. Thank you.
Regards and have a great day.
and within a matter of hours following their first response, came …
Dear Jan Shim,
In relation to our previous email as below, we would like to notify you that this is a scam. Thus, please do not transfer any amount to the mentioned person (TAN YAU BOON) and other unknown parties.
Regards and have a great day.
By now, the lady kept calling to find out if I had made the remittance. I no longer entertain her calls and usually let the phone ring till it stopped. Isn’t it scary that you could be sweet-talked into being $2,900 worse off in just a week? With online phone listings and directory services, if anything, it has made these scams against unsuspecting individuals more rampant!
On Nov 24, 2007 UNITED DAILY NEWS picked up my story and translated it to Chinese with the hope of reaching the Chinese speaking community that the syndicate is targetting. Click on image to read the full article.
© 2007 United Daily News
** NEWSFLASH! A housewife in Malaysia was cheated of RM500,000 by a syndicate as reported by Berita Harian in the Malay language.
© 2007 Berita Harian
Additional information
- For a light-hearted version of the same scam with a slightly different modus operandi check out the graphic blog by Kenny Sia (link courtesy of resourceful blogger Jewelle)
- Thanks to an contact in Hong Kong who confirmed the government imposes no such requirement for outgoing funds, at least to her understanding, for the amount in question.
- A Chinese version of this post translated by UNITED DAILY NEWS to reach the Chinese community everywhere. Published on November 24, 2007
Set her up! Great story so far. Cant wait to hear how it plays out.
Is there any FBI equivilant or scam specialist police over there?
Jenison
November 21, 2007 at 10:13 pm
Good one. Let’s hope all will read and learn from this.
Jewelle
November 21, 2007 at 10:18 pm
[...] Check it out! While looking through the blogosphere we stumbled on an interesting post today.Here’s a quick excerptHONG KONG SCAM ALERT! November 21, 2007 by Jan Shim Listen up, what you’re about to read is my very recent first-hand encounter with a scammer from Hong Kong and hopefully you’ll do the right thing by warning your family and friends before these unscrupulous crooks have a field day with their next target! [Warning: long post ahead] [IMG scam.jpg] Day 1—The Introduction Just under a week ago, I received a phone call from a lady who claimed she represents Hong Kong TachAsia Leisure Centre [...]
Iguanaz » HONG KONG SCAM ALERT!
November 21, 2007 at 10:28 pm
We get that crap a lot in the States … just have to use common sense and tell the annoying person NO THANKS!! of course, I have learned from the past especially with international business transactions… GRRR!!
jenny
November 21, 2007 at 10:37 pm
This is the common tactic used in Vancouver as well. There is no free lunch in this world. Jan is nice to share this story with everyone. Please take note and inform your elderly at home.
Mimi
November 21, 2007 at 10:40 pm
@ Jenison
Yes, it’s called CRIME SHIM INVESTIGATION (CSi)
Jan Shim
November 21, 2007 at 10:56 pm
Oh man… Way cool, Jan…
I wonder why such low scams still happen… and surprisingly, some ppl do fall for it.. But hey, Jan, great work and thanks for letting us know… I think this syndicate is targeting on Asian countries, Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei…
Singapore is getting a few phone scams cases lately also….think twice in future about leaving your mobile contact number details in lucky draw tickets, etc….
Jaslyn Kong
November 22, 2007 at 1:46 am
你的真實故事和我友人幾乎一樣.
和你說：就是有人相信她的說法.
貪心做遂.
華
November 22, 2007 at 7:26 am
I heard those cases happened in other countries too but i never know that it will happen also in Brunei!! Gosh.. should be more aware of these calls in the future!!
jessie
November 22, 2007 at 9:17 am
This has been going on for a while now, and this is the most recent case that I know that they had the gall to call up people and entice them that way. My father received an SMS from Indonesia that told him that he won something from a TV station there. I immediately told him that it was indeed a scam, and to never trust anyone contacting out of the blue to give you money.
I have two or three such messages in my phone, and I was wondering of such a way to ‘kena-kan’ these scammers.
Souljah
November 22, 2007 at 11:11 am
Scams like these have been around but the tactics they used has evolved. They are getting better!
The typical age group that fall into these traps are usually the older folks. It was in the news in Singapore a few weeks back and now we are more cautious.
I personally have brought this up as a topic over dinner and warned my folks and let them know that people are being cheated of and remind them to be cautious. So i guess you can do likewise if you have old folks at home.
Personally….I feel that it something is too good to be true, it probably is. I don’t think people go around giving away money because they have too much
(People can never have too much money)!!! 
sgdavid
November 22, 2007 at 2:15 pm
@ Jaslyn
Who knows what goes on in this world anymore?! The world we live in is politcally, economically and socially messed up and like many level headed people I know, I live my life one day at a time and in moderation. It’s too easy to fall prey to these crooks if you’re deep in debt and are constantly looking for a way out!
@ Jessie
We’ve often read about this in our email and you wouldn’t think this could ever happen to you. Until it does! It’s very different when you become a target. Hanging up the phone would be too easy, going along with them, seeing how low they stoop is far more interesting.
The lady has not given up at all. She still calls my house each day and this time my Filipina helper answers and they can engage in a duck and chicken conversation for all I care. Failing to get me at home, she would ring my mobile which I gladly ignore. She’s come so far and is under the impression that this victim is just one Telegraphic Transfer away from victory!
Jan Shim
November 22, 2007 at 2:49 pm
My husband had a similar call from someone who spoke with a strong mainland chinese accent a few weeks ago. She claimed to be doing a marketing survey like the tactic she used with you. Fortunately, the conversation ended because my husband was not very fluent in chinese. Othewise, he would be one of the victims of the scam. Always remember nothing comes easy!
sally
November 22, 2007 at 4:34 pm
Yo bro, this lady calling me also…haha..1st time she cal me i pretend i dun understand mandarin and english and she hang up..
second time she cal up again i say i was reporter and i want 2 do an interview wh her and ask for their co. details etc…then she hang up…
i wait for d 3rd time cal, but since 2nd time she cal me and hang up, then there is no more 3rd time..haha..i’m lucky..
vincent
November 22, 2007 at 4:50 pm
Thanks for sharing this U.Jan.
This happened to 1 of my friends too, couple of months ago. Amazingly and shamelessly, the “lady” happens to call again 2 days ago, beginning the same conversation with “Do you know how to speak chinese?”(in mandarin) It happens that the best way to handle this is just hang up the phone… and pretend you didn’t receive any call…
About the lady being cheated…. sorry to say that no one is to blame but herself….. someone who owns RM500K still wants to hope that RM1.2M to fall down from the sky like THAT??? greedy ma…!
Scammer nowadays use high level psychology jutsu i say…. It’s just not easy to not fall into the trap…. be alert people… Remember.. there is NO, again NO free lunch in this world.
Christina
November 22, 2007 at 5:46 pm
I agree Christina’s “there is NO free lunch in this world…” statement.. You want to achieve something, you have to earn it. I suppose the LOVE of money becomes the root of evil… NOT “Money is evil”….
These scammers know that there will still be ppl around who have GREED for money… so they hope to target on these individuals. It’s sad that how these scammers have the intellect but aint willing to work and sweat to earn their keep. They rather do the shortcut method..
I think this is also a good incident to teach the younger ones so that they can learn and are exposed to such frauds.. Teach them to be more street smart.
Jaslyn Kong
November 23, 2007 at 12:42 am
Thanks for sharing Jan.
Joo Hoon
November 23, 2007 at 8:22 am
I always wonder why people would fall for such a case, still, like you all said, there’s always people who would fall for it, probably 1 in a million. Sigh.
About those sms, god, I receive like 10 of ‘em in a week last time, ROFL. xD
IngSiang
November 23, 2007 at 10:42 am
I have the same call last Tuesday, she gave her name as 庄丽丽, caliming they were doing marketing research on opening resort in Tutong (? of all places in Brunei?). She gave me the luckly number A56118.
The next day she called back to ask me to watch a live program on 亚洲卫视 between 5-6pm the next day on the opening ceremony with Andy Lau in HK which I did but there was no sush progam on air.
On Saturday I noticed my hand phone has an international missed call, I guess it’s probably them. Lucky me!
Thanks Jan for the revealing the scam.
Shazi
November 26, 2007 at 10:16 am
I’m glad you did the right thing. The people behind these scams and the syndicate running them have no conscience and can be merciless. I hope you are able to forewarn your friends and relatives about this. It’s bad enough that they invade your privacy with these unnecessary calls, they attempt to take away your dignity too.
I would have very conveniently hung up the phone, ignore all their calls till they gave up but the thought of them preying on other individuals had me enraged! These are folks who (in Jaslyn’s words) “have the intellect but aint willing to work and sweat to earn their keep. They rather do the shortcut method.. “
Jan Shim
November 26, 2007 at 1:38 pm
This sounds like a version of the Nigerian scam. I hope that your readers heed your warning and be mindful of these scams. Thanks for the post.
Kel
November 26, 2007 at 11:29 pm
Jan, got simiar calls on my handphone. She tried three times. Right the first time, my son, who speaks Chinese pissed her off….hahahhaha
The second time, I told her she got the wrong number, when in between the two calls, there had been some missed calls!
The third time I answered her, I shouted at her and told her to get lost. Seems to work that way.
Similar scams occur in internet mails, when you were told you won million of dollars in a lottery. But when actually did I buy those ticekts??
Famous one is the British Airways lottery. Wow! BA had not made enough money and decided to operate lottery? Really made me laugh.
You can check this link for samples of those emails:
http://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/lotteryscam_BA.php
Here are some of the more common clues that you will see in scams:
- EMAIL notification? Real lotteries NEVER notify the winners: If you hold a winning lottery ticket, you notify the lottery. Therefore, ALL emails that say you won are scams!
You didn’t buy a ticket? Then how could you win? Ask yourself, where does the money for the prizes come from?
- Email address draw? There is no such thing as a “computer draw system” or “computer ballot draw” of email addresses. It does not exist, no matter how many scammers tell you it does.
- Sent from a free email account?: The return email addresses are free Yahoo, Excite or Hotmail, AIM, Gmail, and other free email accounts,
- Don’t tell anyone? “For security reasons” you’re not allowed to talk to anyone about it (especially the police or consumerfraudreporting.org!) – which ought to be odd since lotteries thrive on publicity!
- Uneducated lotteries? The emails contain poor grammar, punctuation, strange syntax and phrasing and loads of misspellings.
- Pay to collect winnings? You NEVER have to pay to collect winnings from a legitimate lottery. You pay taxes AFTER you you receive the winnings. There are NO other fees (taxes, insurance, delivery, etc. are part of a lotteries operating costs, and are NOT taken from winnings).
- U.S. Laws? It is illegal under U.S. federal law to play ANY foreign lottery from the United States. Many other countries have similar laws. for example, you must be a Spanish resident to play the El Gordo lottery.
- Similar names? Since scammers simply invent new names for their fake lottery scams, it is more accurate to say that if you do not see the lottery on the list of legitimate lotteries, it is probably a scam.
Masjuwita
November 27, 2007 at 8:31 am
Jan,
Thanks for the info. All these while I knew these type of scams were sent via email or sms, didn’t know they actually called up now. It used to be sms from China and I was asked to translate it for my non-chinese literate colleagues. So now I need to warn people at home not to answer to those phone call.
Drifting Cloud
November 29, 2007 at 9:41 pm
This lady is calling me now!! Same tactic!!! Ask me to do survey first den ask me to watch a program and said i won $60000!! She asked for my bank account number and i gave her!! OMG!! I wanna nab this scammers!!
John
November 30, 2007 at 2:34 pm
John,
The next time she calls, tell her firmly that you’re not a wee bit impressed to be short-changed. Ask her why your friends (emphasis on not one but a few whom you know) in Brunei got offered B$67,500. Maybe it’s Gullible Suckers Tax (GST)?
Jan Shim
November 30, 2007 at 7:02 pm
Hello there~! Thankz for this blog entry! I was also called up by this lady and faced the same situation as you! I gave her my bank account no. and was so afraid that she will hack my bank account, so i transferred all my money out of my bank the next moment i put down the phone. I think she will be calling me again as she still have not told me about the remittance. I was thankful that i came across your blog and knew this scam! Thankz for the information!
And we should really learn that there is no free lunch in this world…to those who may come across this issue, just reject or hang up the call if you come across this lady!
Million Thankz to u!
thankful
December 1, 2007 at 9:23 pm
The money in your bank is safe! Unless the phone calls are made by someone inside your bank, rest assured that giving out your account number does not compromise its security. I appreciate the unnecessary worry and stress dealing with these criminals.
Jan Shim
December 2, 2007 at 3:05 pm
Jan,
Spoke to my parents this morning. Apparently calls was made to our house in Lumut. But it was quite funny as described by dad. Call was answered by my grand-uncle (old man with hearing problem), he passed the phone to my dad and said he couldn’t understand anything at all when the lady was speaking in Mandarin for quite a while. So the lady basically hanged up by the time dad answered the call.
Ohya they don’t just call at home. Mum received the call at work as well. So I guess they just try any landline they could get hold of.
Drifting Cloud
December 2, 2007 at 4:40 pm
These callers are very persistent and talk fast to the point they do not allow you a chance to talk unless when asking if you understood what she said (and are waiting for you to spell out your account number). They are good but not good enough and their methods leave plenty of holes. They create an atmosphere of professionalism by asking you repeatedly if you understand the position you’re in, what the caller say is clear and they insist that you understand them every step of the way.
Together, we can and will beat them!
Jan Shim
December 2, 2007 at 5:35 pm
I am just curious how the hell they got those number? Randomly or what? Our house number are not listed in the Telbru directory also. They are just trying their luck on the number I guess. Don’t they need to pay for the phone bill (IDD number)?
Drifting Cloud
December 2, 2007 at 8:07 pm
See if you can find your number on the Brunei Yellow Pages online! You may be surprised just how exposed we are without even realising it. I found my own listing including full residential address. Now isn’t that scary?! As long you have a registered number, you are listed somewhere!
IDD used to mean International Direct Dial. Today, International has been replaced with Internet and you have a service called SKYPE. I imagine in China there are plenty of similar service providers of “IP” telephony for next to nothing.
Jan Shim
December 2, 2007 at 9:04 pm
I agree with you. Internet is useful yet not safe. It’s difficult to maintain your privacy on the net especially.
You are right. In china the international calling can be really cheap. I used to spend so much buying those calling card at a cheaper rate and able to make long hours of calls.
All these scams from China really make people having bad impression on China. The way they try to get money out of people is really scary and annoying.
Drifting Cloud
December 2, 2007 at 9:24 pm
I’ve updated this post with a link to the translation in Chinese by United Daily News published on Nov 24, 2007.
http://shimworld.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/hk-scam-alert.jpg
Jan Shim
December 3, 2007 at 1:25 pm
Dear All,
Currently, this case is applying to me now, the girl is contiune to call me from 9:00 am, and my stage is that she wants me account number#, I try to avoid to answer “private” call, and today Vancouver number# show up and answer the me, it’s her again… God… when will over?!, I try to say I have talk to police and she didn’t really card…………….,,, any suggestion? does RCMP or FBI can do anything? those crimes have to stop..
Sky
January 8, 2008 at 2:10 am
You’re right, these crimes have to stop but they won’t. They spread quicker than you can spread butter on your bread and they are virtually untraceable unless they are dumb enough to run their operations from the same location. All they need is internet access, pull up your phone number from an internet white pages, and dial that number repeatedly using an internet phone – super cheap and effortless to do!
Don’t bother with the authorities, just use the most effective method – HANG UP – and make sure you alert your family and friends that this has happened to you and make sure they don’t get targetted next.
All the best!
Jan Shim
January 8, 2008 at 5:52 am
I received a similar call as well but the company names changed. I entertained at first but looks like I should go to the police. I asked for their website but was led to a website on a Mortgage company instead of a Electronic company. Lets hope I can nap these people, they even give me a phone number to call back!
Francis Sim
January 10, 2008 at 11:36 am
Francis,
I think they use internet voip phone, because when they call me the number always different. I don’t know if the police want to be involved with this kind stuff.
Sky
February 23, 2008 at 8:14 am
Thanks to online banking security, these scammers have no choice but to expose themselves by giving out traceable bank account numbers. Talk about low tech compromising their high tech means of ruining someone’s day. They can run but they cannot hide. Their days are numbered and opportunities lost when we proactively inform others of this malicious intent.
Jan Shim
February 23, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Hi Jan,
Have been an avid yet anonymously reader to your posting since beginning of last year. Was attracted by your photography skills and your descriptive entries enhance with powerful vocabulary.
Well, seeing so many comments for this particular entry, am wondering if any of the dudes and babes had encounter being call back and get scolded (with vulgarities) by this Ms Lim Mei Hua (Yes & no kidding. This name was used on me in Singapore) or her other correspondences?
Or am I the unlucky one to get such responses?
I have received this call 2 weeks ago. Same introduction and same follow-up in 2 days. Except that I “won” the prize on 3rd day of S$67k. It had immediately trigger my memory on this entry. On the 4th day afternoon, I exposed her scam. But what followed by was nightmare. She called every 5-10mins interval and scold vulgarities and hanged up, all done in 3 seconds! I can’t even switch off my mobile phone as it was used for business contacting purposes. Till now I still do get silence call every now & then. Wondering if its her doings..
Any suggestions or word of advice for me?
Lovellynn
March 11, 2008 at 1:04 am
Lovellynn,
If the same lady is still scamming folks she must quickly be running out of steam and from the sound of it, patience too! You’re the first one I learn to have been scolded by the perpetrator so this makes you special in my books.
There’s very little or nothing you can do if your network isn’t registering the caller’s ID—can’t see, can’t block! It doesn’t hurt to talk to the police or network operator to see if it’s actually possible. I like to think that every call has some kind of digital signature or IP address especially those coming from an internet phone. It’s disturbing to know the lengths they go and when they cannot get your money, they go that extra mile to make your life miserable!
Keep us posted and I wish you all the best. And, thanks for your appreciation. It means a lot.
Jan Shim
March 11, 2008 at 10:31 am
Hello all~~ today i was received the phone call frm the china gal~ the story was totaly same like u guys mention here~ i still entertain her~ i stil acting i know nothing abt this scam, any related government or police in charge this case that i can contact?
Shane
March 12, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Shane,
I suggest you ignore her calls and wait it out till she eventually gives up. It is pointless in my opinion to let her control your day and time and for you to take matters to the authorities where it may be outside their jurisdiction to do anything useful to help you.
Jan Shim
March 12, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Jan Shim
Helo~ you know wat~? is that nothing we can do even we know some1 r cheating here? that was pretty sad~ like no law in the world~ hope HK government will take this case seriously`~
Shane
March 12, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Just for review, Here was the phone number that i was received frm the caller scammer~
00-852-31771570 given by Ms. Yu
+886227060110 display frm my cellar fon n called by Ms.Chang
How come they had alot different phone number? any idea? steal line?
Shane
March 12, 2008 at 4:49 pm
You are spending too much time on this matter, just as I expected you would. She and her associates are not worth our precious time to loose sleep over. By getting all worked up and upset feeling confused and lost, you are giving her the pleasure of taking away your freedom. Drop this before you sink into this too deep.
Jan Shim
March 12, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Jan Shim
Maybe i spendin too much time on this~ but just dropin this scam away is same like u r know some1 cheating but u just ignore it coz it not hapen to u~~~ So far many aunty got trap by this scam~ there r very pity lor~ Hope more people will know more abt this case n not trap by this scammer~ hmm~~
Shane
March 12, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Hi Shane,
I believe the lady is using those IP phonecard to make the international call. Or yet she got those landlind with IP phone facilities. Those phonecard or phone features can let her make international call at pretty cheap rate.
The international contact number she gave you +852 xxxxxxxx does seem like a hong kong number while the other number +886 xxxxx is a taiwan number…. So I guess she is making use of internet ip number may be….
Drifting Cloud
March 12, 2008 at 5:47 pm
What you should be doing is informing your friends, relatives and colleagues about it in anyway you can and let them know that the scam you read about on SHIMWORLD has just happened to you!
Enlighten them by linking them to this blog post. Their operation is beyond what you or the first level authorities can handle anyway.
Jan Shim
March 12, 2008 at 5:54 pm
Drifting Cloud
Thx for explaining~
Jan Shim
Ya~ i just forward sms to all my fren n family~ Anyway this is 1st time i entertain those scammers coz they very pro in acting~ after that i do research on internet~ i SAW many blogs are SAME story like the scammer caller told me~ Anyway i stil entertain them~ see what will hapen~ i wish i could record all the conversation between me n that scammer caller~
Shane
March 12, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Hi Jan and all faithful readers,
Since neither we nor any authorities can control such scam, it would really be the best way to keep informing our family, relatives and friends every now and then in all ways and means.
I’ve reported this matter to the police and was informed that they have received quite a number of reports on such cases. The higher management personnel are looking into it and also planning to collaborate with the respective medias to help to warn citizens of such incidents in all ways, thru TV broadcast, reading materials and radio broadcasting for all races. Hopefully in this way, it will create a wider circle of awareness and keep these scammers at bay (or at least stop their operation for a time being).
Shane, its really no point entertaining these people, unless you wanna go through what I’ve been thru. Being harrassed by them.
Lovellynn
March 13, 2008 at 10:42 pm
Thank God! I was one step close to losing S$3125… was cautioned by the post office lady who kindly advised me to think twice.. and i stepped out. I believe i will be recieving more calls from this lady tomorrow and the days after.. they are really persistent! I’m glad I came across your site!
they are really really professional nowadays. While talking to me, she actually had another phone coming in..and she had actually “talked” to this other party as if the other person had recieved the money and is thanking her for it!
gosh!
waterangel
March 19, 2008 at 9:35 pm
[...] There is a detailed account here by Jan Shim over at Shimworld.com ==> http://shimworld.wordpress.com/2007/11/21/hong-kong-scam-alert/ [...]
Steven Leong's Blog » Hong Kong scam?
March 31, 2008 at 7:39 pm
I live in Australia – Perth
My dad got a call like 2 days ago from a man from hongkong and he said my dad won $1,000,000 hong kong dollars by entering a competition for some sort of tv or something in canberra and he needed my dads bank details. my dad decided to put the money on my grandma’s account who lived in hong kong so it was easier.
So he gave him my grandmas bank number and my dads birthdate and liscence no. Can that person still hack into the bank account and take money?
And today i was looking through the asia times and it was talking about a telephone scam like the one i was talking about and howcrime stoppers said it was like a scammer in hong kong with the name of burk or sumthing?
Jenny
May 10, 2008 at 2:12 pm
One scam does not make me an expert and I certainly won’t pretend to be one. The whole idea of scamming is that they somehow convince the victim to wire money to them. Giving them an account number + birth date + license number is counter productive. Besides banks are secure and fairly hard or impossble to hack by your average Joe.
Jan Shim
May 10, 2008 at 2:41 pm
[...] visit CEBU, PHILIPPINES…… On a more serious note, I’m extremely happy that the HONG KONG SCAM ALERT! article has been instrumental in saving many from being phone scammed. The post has been linked in [...]
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING « A Journey Lived
May 20, 2008 at 1:28 pm
I´m Henrimark, from Brazil.
I think I have been recently object of scam, from a company at Alibaba.com, which was called Korg Hong Kong…they promised musical instruments of top brands. Since I sent money they are postponing the shipment and I am sure they will not send it.
Names you have to avoid: Shung Tia, Eliasu Sulemana, Baffour Edmund…
Henrimark de Andrade
May 25, 2008 at 11:41 pm
Henrimark,
Thanks for filling us in on your unfortunate incident. I contacted the International Service Center of Alibaba.com in an attempt to draw their attention to your situation. The email I wrote …
Sadly, instead of addressing the issues that’s clearly stated in the opening paragraph, a representative by the name Neo Zhou, in his email response, said …
In my further attempt to clarify the matter, I wrote back and have not heard from them since. It saddens me that the internet is used for fraudulent trade practices and there’s increasing evidence of people victimised by such contrived acts of deceipt.
On 2nd June 2008, Radio New Zealand website posted news of a student in Auckland who was scammed out of $46,000!! The same news was also reported the New Zealand Herald …
Jan Shim
June 2, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Hi Jan Shim
I thank you in your help.
Alibaba deceived me too, because they just do not answer my emails. I tried the Hong Kong Police, but they say that my local police must ask them a investigation regarding to this issue.
I have the names, the email, telephone number, but not any local help. I am sad that other people may be scammed with no trial of stopping these burglars, and also sad for the trembled confidence I have now in having new business relationship with China market.
Together with the opened market in China, It should exist a great “escrow system” to protect buyers, that is, “no goods, no money”. Let´s work until the end, hardly, but honestly !
Henrimark de Andrade
June 9, 2008 at 2:40 am
hey Henrimark,
i was about to order eletric drums through ALI BABA site from a guy who claimed that he is from Parson’s music and he whole sells the product.
i did not believe him and told him that (his prices were so low and his way was weird and fishy), i am from egypt so i am an expert in such scams (used to happen here a lot in more twisted ways, lol).
Next day my dad wakes me up and there he is, He got my number from ALI BABA, asking for my email so that he send all documents for ” MY REST OF MIND”.
I did send and recieved a very strange looking certificate that i did not believe. I stayed in touch and acted as if the trade is gonna happen (i still did not confirm anythng). Next morning i find him sending an invoice and an address to send the money 2 through WESTERN UNION.
Now…… it was definitly fishy he typed the invoice and the packages ready 2 be shipped without even my confirm. Business is never done like that.
Any way… what made me find this page s that i searched for the address name he sent to me( his accountant) and guess what……. he was: “Mr. Baffour Edmund,” the guy u stated in ur early post.
Now i am scamming him myself, canceling a unit, ordering another and he’s just waiting 4 his money that he’ll never get.
Ahmed Nour
June 12, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Ahmed
thank God I could be helpful in reporting their names….
As I reported this fraud to Korg Japan, Alibaba cleaned their names, but I see they created a new company and are trying to steal more money from people.
I regret that Hong Kong police cannot get these people, and Alibaba is still accepting virtual companies that don´t exist.
Now I ask: is Alibaba trustfull ? I think that in China, the frauds and copies of real brands are becoming to big that they are losing control……
There are free gangsters working for harming people, and the authorities don´t do anything…..
To all who are reading this: NEVER SEND MONEY THROUGH WESTERN UNION, TO WHOM YOU DON´T KNOW , NEVER!!!!!
Henrimark
June 15, 2008 at 8:30 am
Henrimark/Ahmed Nour,
I Googled the matter and came across an official list of Alibaba.com registered companies that are known to be fraudulent
OFFICIAL LIST OF FRAUD/SCAM COMPANIES IN ALIBABA
I wonder if you were aware of this list at anytime before or after you were about to trade on this portal?
I also came across another site that has a comprehensive list of known names known to have scammed and defrauded.
ALIBABA GLOBAL TRADE SCAM
ALIBABA GOLD MEMBER SCAM
Interestingly, I also learnt that Yahoo has a 40 percent stake in Alibaba Corp. and Alibaba runs the Yahoo China business. All of a sudden, the phrase “a web of lies and deceit” seems like a twisted universal that exists in parallel to ours, like in a movie!
Jan Shim
June 16, 2008 at 9:22 am
Jan
Before what happened to me, I never knew about this situation.
In Alibaba I found once a saxophone seller, which was not a truthpass member….but I bought a sample (payed via paypal) and I received on time and perfect. Their name company is DELICK….they are very good manufacturer from Taiwan..
Also, after the report of Ahmed, I informed Alibaba about Parsons company, and Alibaba returned to me informing that they will be deactivated from their site. (is it so simple? – to me it seems strange….too fast to enter, too easy to leave), but it is a small victory, no doubt….
Below follows Alibaba returned email:
Henrimark
June 17, 2008 at 12:04 am
yeah thats great man.
Well i am still in contact with that guy…..
Hes waiting 4 a 15,000 $ exchange and i made him type more than 9 “FAKE” invoices. ha ha ha
he just mailed me today:
I contacted parson’s music to through their site and i reported the incident but i got no answer…:S
ahmed nour
June 17, 2008 at 7:19 pm
TOO*
ahmed nour
June 17, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Ahmed Nour,
The need to get even is a natural knee jerk reaction. I’m completely sympathetic to the situation you’ve both found yourselves in. A tit for tat approach solves nothing but creates animosity. Cut your losses and move on. Lesson learnt.
Jan Shim
June 17, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Yes, for a while I was still receiving the same message from them….but in my last message I informed them that they would fall again…….
Now, as we cannot do anything else, it is time to rise again, clean up the powder and walk….but now, much more expert than ever…
Henrimark
June 18, 2008 at 8:13 am
There’s only one other thing you (can) do and that’s to make sure you duly alert your family members, co-workers and friends about the situation so future mistakes can be avoided. You’ve paid a price for the lesson now is the time to spread your wisdom by educating others.
Jan Shim
June 18, 2008 at 9:07 am
This is parsons music store response:
Thats sumthing they should at least do
…..
ahmed nour
June 19, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Today my blog stats picked up a discussion on KORG Forums about a scam by the same people who pulled the wool over your eyes! There’s also an interesting email transcript between the Alibaba member (seller) ROCKTASTE.CO and a potential victim.
http://korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=35978
Jan Shim
July 1, 2008 at 5:53 pm
I alert everyone who are searching musical instruments at Alibaba.com……..today I was taking a look and some new companies have arrived there.
The funny thing is that these companies are from Hong Kong (the same as that one I wrote earlier), they say they are manufacturer, retailer, distributor, wholesaler, etc… since several years ago, but they do not have “trustpass profile”, do not have website, do not have address, sometimes they do not have even phone number…only a name.
Be very carefull !!!!!!! This is not a good first impression…..and I think scam is far from over….
Henrimark
Brazil
Henrimark
July 6, 2008 at 9:09 am
They are active and targetting Asian American. I got a call today and you know what I will report them if they bother me again.
If you happen to receive such calls for survey, more importantly if you have no idea who they are, always, always say sorry I am not interested and hang up.
If they bother you, tell them you will report them to authority such as IC3.GOV and FBI.GOV if they continues.
Seriously, if they bother me again next day, I will report them immediately.
These scammers must be stopped!
Jason
September 20, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Jason,
These scammers and their network have no conscience and without a traceable number you have no case. Consider yourself fortunate that you are not a victim unlike the gentleman who is mentioned in the email I received yesterday …
The knee jerk reaction I had was advising the writer to immediately notify the bank at which the money was wired but as it turned out, the money was transferred by Western Union which is believed to be untraceable. Western Union service are very popular with foreign workers due to their low fees, reliability and speed but perhaps at the expense of security!
Jan Shim
September 20, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Jan is one of the smartest guys out there and came close to being scammed. Feel sorry for the person with an average iq
http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/693900
Greg
Greg
September 20, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Jan,
I feel so sorry for the person who fall victim to this con. There are lots of other people who might never heard about this con scheme and I am pretty worried for them.
To all,
As always if it is too good to be true, then it is probably a scam. I cannot imagine the amount of money cheated by these unscrupulous global con artists. I am very sure they will continue doing what they are good at. Honestly, they are pretty good and getting better with their conning methods. People just have to be very careful, especially if they speak the language you speak at home.
I can feel that the more money they launder out of the hard working ordinary people, they are putting themselves at higher chance of getting caught. I really want to read news reports where these chinese con artists are actually caught and punished. If you guys have any link to an article please share.
If you look at FBI web page, they are working their ass off to fight white collar crimes. Especially if it affects the ordinary people. Lots of global con artists with similar schemes have been caught somewhere in other countries and sentenced in the states, such as from Spain to name one. There are lots of pending cases related to global con artists. If more Chinese speaking US Citizens are affected by this crime, I can see that those chinese speaking con artists be put in jail for their crime. I really do want to see it happens.
Be safe, do not fall trap by these global con artists.
Thanks Jan for your informative website, it helps us a lot!
Jason
September 20, 2008 at 7:46 pm
不法集团的诈骗手段层出不穷，专向贪小便宜以及希望快速致富的无知者下手，简单来说，天下没有白吃的午餐，若阁下被通知中奖、中大奖、中大大的奖，请不要开心，因为不参加抽奖何来的中将，或许，不法集团可能会用各种手段引你上当，但是最终的决定还是自己，小心谨慎最重要，不然再多的钱就只有送给人家而已。
vincent
September 21, 2008 at 10:23 am
Jason
“There are lots of other people who might never heard about this con scheme and I am pretty worried for them.”
I am as worried for these helpless victims just as I am equally worried about the kids whose parents scam people for a living. I don’t think they do it for fun but rather what drives them is this GREED and UNREALISTIC get-rich ideas that have been hammered into their miserable lives. I feel sorry for their kids who are oblivious to the crimes their moms and dads are committing just so they (presumably) continue to live a life of UNDESERVED luxury.
As the US economy worsens, I suspect more people will be targeted and victimised by this financial crunch. The desire to have a financial security will just make people more susceptible to temptations (it’s just human nature). I have since received a “phone survey” call instead of a “lucky draw” approach. The best thing to do—hang up!
“Thanks Jan for your informative website, it helps us a lot!”
I feel it’s the right thing to do and the one thing that keeps me motivated is that this post has made a real difference to people’s lives judging from some of the responses that had been posted earlier. However, just looking at the stats of this post, it’s only generated 2,445 page views since Nov 2007. Meaning to say it has yet to reach enough homes, offices, mobile phones and whatever media is being streamed to get people’s attention ASAP.
You are more than welcome to use the button I have created to increase awareness on blogs you own or forum discussions just as Malaysian professional photographer Steven Leong has done so. I believe information is key but it’s just that most people are distracted by the daily grind to not pay much attention to them. At one time I used to receive dozens of Nigerian scams in my inbox but after I switched to Gmail, they are now automatically spam filtered.
http://shimworld.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/scam_alert.jpg (170 pixel across)
or include a link to your email signature
http://shimworld.wordpress.com/2007/11/21/hong-kong-scam-alert/
You know what would be really scary? It’s when scam syndicates begin recruiting members of various nationality to target different people other than the Chinese but I think that’s already happening one way or another.
Jan Shim
September 21, 2008 at 11:11 am
Got called repeatedly too. They don’t give up.
Using a Hong Kong VOIP number
Mandarin Speaker in Hong Kong … how unusual.
Very tempted to post her phone number here…
Chui Tey
September 23, 2008 at 12:06 pm
I got called non stop last few days….The number appear are 5550800, 5550805. Its very annoying.. China girls mandarin speaking… Till i quarrel with her also don wan to hang up. Lastly she said ” ok la you busy !! busy till die la” very rude and hang up. Ever since that, she didn’t call back.. Thank god….
Alan Chai
September 23, 2008 at 11:39 pm
When you remain vigilant throughout the conversation, it’s a matter of time before they lose their cool. This confirms my suspicion that they are no longer in control thanks to widely publicized news on radio, newspapers, emails, websites, etc.
Jan Shim
September 24, 2008 at 10:07 pm
I have been getting e-mails about these millions of dollars that I won from a lottery that picked my e-mail, it was coming from Dubai and then I get further e-mails from a bank in Hong Kong and cannot tell anyone or get in touch with the banks as it is illegal to do so. Some nonsense like that. I told them that they can deal with my attorney. If they wanted to I would give them his info. They said that they will give me some sort of a check card whereby I can withdraw $10,000 a day because I told them that I do not have any bank accounts or ATM cards. Told them to send me a certified check from a verifiable bank, etc. At first wanted me to send a check via fed-ex in the amt of about $900 or so dollars to cover the insurance. I told them that I send them nothing. Now I am awaiting an e-mail reply from a Sandra Johnson from g-mail about what they are going to do to get me the money. Ten to one, I will not get a response. THESE SCAMS COME OVER THE NET ALL DAY AND ALL NIGHT. I will keep you posted as to how this plays out as I will NOT give them any of my personal info.
Lily Ann Sherman
October 21, 2008 at 11:49 am
When you have not been victimsed by these scams, it’s entertaining just learning the lengths they would go to make the bait seem more realistic. Imagine the cat and mouse game the scammers and banks play to avoid detection. Sadly, not enough effort have been made to educate the public of the crime.
Jan Shim
October 21, 2008 at 1:20 pm
JUST IN — PRETENDING TO BE YOUR LOCAL INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER ASKING FOR EMAIL PASSWORD THREATENING TO CANCEL YOUR ACCOUNT!
Jan Shim
October 28, 2008 at 8:15 am
OMG >_<” haha i live in Australia and the same thing has happened and it is the worlds most annoying things ever!!!!
This stupid lady who sounds like a 5 year calls and talks to me in mandarin and she asks stupid survey questions… and the first time i had no idea why she was asking me survey questions about her stupid company that i dont even know.( it was about watches)
And i guess i sounded very confused cos she called her “supervisor” or what ever powers lie above her and that new lady was like ” how old are you are you of legal age (18) yet” and i was like nope! and shes like oh okay anyone one home and im like NO
Amazingly this happens the next day.. the same lady calls me asks me the exact same questions gets to the end and goes … YOU SOUND YOUNG ARE YOU OF AGE YET? and im like omg u asked me this sooo many times.. on this second day she managed to call my house at least 5 times whcih i hung up everytime i hear her voice….
And they just keep calling and they ask for you name and all that and then because im not 18+ and they dont want me cos i cant do anything
they ask for my dad… had to tell them that my dad passes away and she just goes OKAY IS YOUR MUM HOME? and i tell her that my mums not home -_-’ and then inconsiderately they ask for my mum’s name and i was like ” I DONT KNOW” but how can i not know my mothers name x_x and such and such…
They eventually also tell you that their company wishes to expand to Australia (your country) and that by answering their survey you need to now give information as part of their database and then they tell you to watch television from such and such a time to see if you win for participating in their survey..
Then they call you congratulate you and tell you u win $200 000 American and that a few other people from such and such countries also won.. and that your country is so blessed that you have 2 people win from your country..
Then they ask for a handling fee O_O” of like a few thousand which is ridiculous and then they tel you to wire money through “wester union” and in this case to a “mr TUNG CHUNG PING” and they give you an ID number for HOngKong 216583373 and an address 2/F 495 NATHAN ROAD KOWLOON HONGKONG and such and such…
They tell you 2hours after you wire the money you will recieve your US$200 000
And then they tell you that they are sorry but you can’t get the money you need to give them a further HK$100 000 because you are not a resident of hongkong etc and such and such and they just keep calling when you tell them
NO im not interested i dont care i dont want your money ‘__’ and they keep calling!!!!
Lisa
November 4, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Liza, many thanks for the full length version of your personal encounter with the voice of satan! The sequence of your story and the ensuing thesis sounds like mine. As for the relentless calling, put the phone in silent mode and ignore it. When it happened to me, it was easy to tell, their VOIP calls had no Caller ID so I just refused to answer any of them and eventually they stopped.
But I do wonder. With people now more informed than before about these scams and banks including remitting centres such as Western Union taking preventative measures against them, what clever tricks have they come up to convince victims to pay to?
Jan Shim
November 4, 2008 at 10:16 pm
Hi Jan,
Thanks for your postings and also for Kenny Sia. I just looked into your website after googling for Hong Kong Scams.
I walked away from HK300,000 in prize money for a lucky draw that I never attended in Sydney becos I am in Melbourne. As per others, after happily thinking just maybe there is a little money coming through, as expected a hitch came up due to the regulations in Hong Kong and I am supposed to fork out AUD$6,000 for insurance etc. I told them that I think they are a fraud and I dont trust them. Hang up on them , they call back and after calling them a fraud and hanging up. havent received any calls so far for the last 2 hours. Wanted their details but their website is under construction – cant believe for a watch company (Pau Li) that has just celebrated its 10 years anniversary.
Maybe they know that I was going to check the identity of the person in Western Union etc.
Thanks for warning others and sharing your experience. Nowadays we need to be “WATCHful”…:-)
Cheers and God Bless
Paul Wan
Paul
November 11, 2008 at 10:01 am
I received a phonecall as well today- “Miss Yek” from Hong Kong regarding the the lucky draw of AUD247000 that i have won from a watch company that has celebrated its 10 years anniversary.
Miss yek sounds very friendly and helpful throughout the process and i almost trusted her. At first i was a bit unsure whether this is a scam, therefore, i called my sister in Malaysia for advice and she told me that this is definately a scam and many cases like this had happend in Malaysia and i musn’t trust them.
My boyfriend scolded Miss Yek when she called the third time and told her to stop doing this to innocent people. At the end, she got nothing to say and hung up the phone!
Dear friend, please be careful and don’t fall into their trap.
Cheers.
Marie
marie
November 13, 2008 at 11:56 pm
Ah, one of the trappings in life, redefined, in a more literal sense of the word. I wonder (and I’ve been wondering a lot lately) which of the scams have been most effective. There are probably several dozens of various internet-SMS related scams around today and they all involved big ticket items such as the nice sound of a million dollars but in the case of the Chinese scam, they lowered the bar and offered to steal a few thousands from each victim at a time on the pretext of a payment security or deposit.
The media (newspaper and TV) should proactively warn their citizens to watch out for scams that are coming to a phone near them. It has happened to many and it can happen to you. I mean come on, let’s be realistic … we live in turbulent times and most of all we live in Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, and female callers do not generally speak with a mainland Chinese accent nor do local employers hire them to do so for the purpose of sweet talking (by now alarm bells should have gone off instinctively).
I was at a watch shop in town to get my car key’s alarm battery replaced and conversation regarding these Chinese scams started. For an elderly gentleman, he had just one wisdom to share and it doesn’t require any translation on the part of its meaning either. He said sighing, “the scammers cannot touch you as long as you’re not greedy.” Makes a hell lot of sense, wouldn’t you agree?
Jan Shim
November 14, 2008 at 11:43 am
Hi please look into this site. http://www.hualiantourism.com
Received call about winning 2nd prize on websit. Required to sent $5000 US$.
Ricardo
December 4, 2008 at 4:57 am
Hi,this group of scammers is getting day by day better.Imagine being able to provide factual info as such websites & tel numbers. Having gone through a real encounter, I must admit that one can easily fall for it, due to the almost flawless setup. Fortunately, I didnt lose anything, other than confidence in mankind.
Call 1: was given a lucky draw number, invited for the live ceremony/ tune in to star chinese TV for live broadcast of charity show hosted by this ‘listed’ company called 環球商旅.
Call2: after a wk, informed that I had won 2nd prize BMW car of HKD500,000, will be offered a cash cheq since I am not a HK local. Transaction will be handled by a well known lawyer 李立達. Just need to bank in cheq and post return acknowledgment slip of prize received. Lady left contact number in case I needed help. No cheq arrived however. Due to the flawless setup, one might wonder if luck has striked.
Call 3: Cash cheq option is not possible afterall. Informed by ‘lawyer’ that HK locals need to pay 15% of cash prize to charity under HK law, foreigners however pay 3%. Informed that I need to go HK in person for all these paperwork. Of cos I said that I am not prepared to FLY. Lady said deadline for prize collection is the next day!(almost 3 wks from draw date).
Offer alternative after much ‘problem shooting’ for me: if company signs a support letter, I just need to deposit the 3% into the ‘designated charity account’, upon receipt, the balance of 97% will be credited into my nominated acct. Star chinese channel replied my email saying it has never ever hosted the charity show.
Tay
March 10, 2009 at 6:28 am
[...] Hong Kong Scam! This is in realtion to one of the blog articles I saw online: http://shimworld.wordpress.com/2007/11/21/hong-kong-scam-alert/ [...]
Hong Kong Scam! « Daily Rants
March 17, 2009 at 12:34 pm
[...] It’s a scam! This is in realtion to one of the blog articles I saw online: http://shimworld.wordpress.com/2007/11/21/hong-kong-scam-alert/ [...]
It’s a scam! « Daily Rants
March 17, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Recently I have received the call also, thanks for sharing this so important information!
Edmund
March 28, 2009 at 11:10 pm
I received this from an Australian requesting me to pass it on to authorities. While I’m not associated with any law enforcement organizations, I’m happy to mention this here as a warning to anyone who might stumble upon this post to inform their friends and loved ones about the scam
Jan Shim
April 7, 2009 at 11:59 am
So it’s no longer from Zimbabwe or Nigeria… now we are getting people who claim they are from Hong Kong… never ending story, I guess.
Steven Leong
April 7, 2009 at 12:06 pm
the similar scam happens almost everyday in HK, not including people didn’t report to the police. When you walk down on the street, some prentending-like nice person will come up with many purposes, questionnarie, qualify to be a model (for photo shooting…etc), invite to join a lucky draw by a travel agent(ies). I just ignore them and walk away.
Currently, they have another way to cheat old people’s money by calliing the parents that they have imprison their child because the child owe them a certain amount of money. The gangsters will ask for the parent’s cell phone right away, call up and keep on talking all the way to the bank, to make sure the old parents are not able to have any clarification by calling other parties. Nowaday, the staff work in the bank have taughty to pay high alert to those old people come to withdraw a certain amount of money. This really help in some cases.
Living in HK, same as others in other big cities, we learnt to be smart, protective…..and cool
sarajane228
April 9, 2009 at 4:43 pm
I have just received the similar phone call last week. Now I win $150,000 US dollars. My number is A25966.
http://www.baolongdz.hk.cn/hdxc.asp
This time, her name is 杨曼佳.
Thanks for sharing this information.
Sophia in 旧金山, USA
Sophia
April 10, 2009 at 7:05 am
I also experienced similar events, Thank Goodness I did some research, while they told me ‘you won 2nd prize’. through the warnings from various government websites, I realised that ‘never send your money away’ is the right thing to do, but I was still curious because they haven’t ask me to pay any forms of payment at this stage. so I played along till they dropped the ‘bomb’ $6250aud (of course they have lies and a tremendous amount of background story to back them up), so I stated that I’m don’t have such amount and ask for their help and willing to pay back in double, they just went crazy about how my disloyalty is hurting their feelings(I must admit she’s good at changing and avoiding different topics,lol, desperate attempt to cover up already exposed lies). and of course they give you lectures on how to take opportunities life and etc..(shifty bast**ds). I got sick of their lies and told them that I’m sure that this is a scam, eventually they give up on me and offer me time to think this through and call them back when I regain my conscience and give them my $6250. yerh right lol,now all I have to make another bank account.
these scammers take small steps at a time and tell a lot of half-lies(partly true), and I was surprised by the amount of background stories they prepared, thankfully they didn’t take any pennies off me, and thank for all those people above sharing their tragic experiences in detail, thanks Shimworld, and all the victims
Fengus
April 28, 2009 at 11:05 am
[...] By wysays This is in relation to one of the blog articles I saw online: http://shimworld.wordpress.com/2007/11/21/hong-kong-scam-alert/ . What happened to me was extremely similar. Luckily I was smart enough. I didn’t even think [...]
A scam. « Daily Rants
May 19, 2009 at 3:29 pm
I got call from Hong Kong somewhere as “Withheld” said that I am one of the three lucky guy win 150 thousand US dollar.
Ask me to contact Mr. Lin, Jing Hua at #68 FL 18 Gongdong Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Tel. 011-852-3078-3337.
Who will be so lucky! What a joke… …
Francis
May 21, 2009 at 11:19 pm
SCAM UPDATE: MOBILE PHONE WHOLESALE
Beware of people who cannot spell their name correctly !
Jan Shim
June 15, 2009 at 2:58 pm
not selling Rolex anymore??
Forward the email to me if you want me to report to HK police
sarajane228
June 19, 2009 at 12:27 am
I just experience the same scam this morning!
A china lady called ‘Liu Ming’ claiming she is calling from a ‘Bao Li’ watch company at 370 Nathan road kow loon. Hong Kong.
Day 1 – called to do a survey.
Day 2- called to say I won 200000USD. need my ID and bank account.
I gave her medicare card number and a bank account with 11 cents in it.
Day 2- called to say I need to transfer handling fees/charges…I hung up.
I hope they won’t use my medicare card to do anything illegal.
My brother emailed me your story. Thanks for sharing your story.
I have to say they are really prepared for all the questions I asked, they seemed so real. I had doubts when the first time they called, but they seemed so convincing…etc…I am glad I didn’t fall for it.
k
June 25, 2009 at 3:04 pm