Fake Chinese cops, police station film set almost fool scam target

Early one weekday morning, Amy Wang received a phone call from the number from the Chinese Embassy in Wellington.

"They were sounding really polite and official," Wang told 1News.

"I'm calling because there's an urgent package addressed to you from Chinese Customs. It says that it's very important and must be collected in person," the scammer said.

The "official" told Wang they open the package with her permission.

She agreed. ADVERTISEMENT

"OK.

I've opened it. The letter's from the Guang Zhou border control. On 1 March 2023, they caught a woman called Li Chen, at the Guang Zhou International Airport carrying 5 fake passports.

One of these passports is yours, and the woman claimed that you have sold your passport information for her to fabricate and provided your NZ phone number."

Wang asked the official to confirm their identity.

"Oh, I am calling from the Embassy. You can google our number and see if it's right."

It was.

She then spoke to the "official's" "manager".

A recreation of the fake Guangzhou officer targeting Amy Wang from a mock police station. (Source: 1News)

"These guys recommended me talk to the Guangzhou police station, and they offered me to transfer me through the internal phone system," said Wang. ADVERTISEMENT

"Hello, this is 110, the Guangzhou Police Office.

You are speaking with Officer Jin Lin."

Wang explained what she had been told by the "embassy officials".

Over the phone, Wang heard another coming from what sounded like a police pager.

"Miss Wang is one of the suspects in the case that's being investigated by Team Leader Li. The account held £160000 that's related to a money laundering payout."

"Officer Lin" continued.

"This case is much more complicated than you think. We need to have a video call.

We use Skype."

Amy Wang was almost the victim of a scam targeting Chinese migrants in NZ. (Source: 1News) ADVERTISEMENT

At this point, they had hooked Wang, who was getting increasingly worried.

She said Officer Lin showed her the inside of the police station, showing her police banners on the wall, and it all looked legitimate.

"He was wearing this uniform that looked like a policeman," said Wang.

"The team leader came over and started talking to me; he was really angry."

"You have no idea what kind of evidence is stacked against you right now. I was put in charge to investigate this top money laundering case.

It is the biggest international crime we've ever seen. £10 Billion and hundreds of suspects are involved in this case. The government wants this case to be solved by the end of the month. We are working with the International Criminal Police.

We've already sent our police force into New Zealand, ready to capture the suspects back to China for investigation."

She was told she was lucky she was not arrested already.

"We've already got our police force in Auckland ready to capture all the suspects for investigation. If it wasn't that you called up today, you could be walking on the street and suddenly getting arrested, deported, and put into prison for a few months while we investigate." ADVERTISEMENT

The threats continued to escalate until she was told her money needed to be audited.

"You will have to transfer all your cash assets to an account for us to perform an audit.

To make this easier, transfer all your cash assets into one account first."

A recreation of the fake Guangzhou Police officer, holding a document. (Source: 1News)

"And that's when I was sure that it was a scam," said Wang.

But her ordeal was not over. She told 1News that for several days she felt scared about going outside and potentially being arrested and deported.

"It was really scary actually; they started to explain to me if you really get arrested and deported from NZ, you carry this criminal record with you for the rest of your life," said Wang.

She wanted to tell her story to raise awareness about the increasing sophistication of scams like this. ADVERTISEMENT

The same scam has targeted Chinese migrants overseas, too - some in the UK have reportedly lost tens of thousands of dollars.[1]

Amy Wang. (Source: 1News)

Being obedient - that's the way Chinese people are brought up and wanting to do things right," said Jessica Phuang of the NZ police.

"So, if an authority figure calls up, they want to make it right and fix it.

And that's why people fall prey."

Her job focused on liaising with ethnic communities in Auckland and confirmed they were often the target of scams.

She said her team continued to put a lot of effort into educating people on these scams and staying safe online.

No New Zealand government authority - police especially - would pick up the phone and ask for your personal details and then finally ask you to transfer money into certain accounts.

She said Netsafe was a valuable resource [2] where people could educate themselves on the latest scams.

References

^ reportedly lost tens of thousands of dollars. (www.itv.com)
^ Netsafe was a valuable resource (netsafe.org.nz)