$49 left in bank account: Cleaner loses $330k of life savings to 'China police' scammers

It took several letters and a phone call from a 'Shanghai police officer' to convince Zhang Han Cheng that he was in serious trouble with the law — even though he had never been there.

The 62-year-old cleaner lost $330,000 of his life savings – accumulated over 50 years – to these scammers, Shin Min Daily News reported on Wednesday (July 13).

Speaking to the Chinese evening daily, Zhang shared that while recovering from Covid-19 in November last year, he received a phone call from someone claiming to be from the police force in Shanghai.

Zhang was told that he was involved in a money laundering operation in China, and asked to "co-operate with the investigation" by creating a new bank account and transferring money to the account for them to check if the money is "clean".

While Zhang had not even been to Shanghai, much less had a bank account there, the 'police' knew his personal information and home address.

Subsequent letters purportedly from Chinese authorities and Shanghai police convinced Zhang that he was in trouble with the law.

After his mandatory Covid-19 self-isolation ended, Zhang said that he visited the bank and transferred $60,000 to the scammer, and also provided the latter with the one-time password of his bank account.

But when he was withdrawing money for his living expenses on Dec 7, Zhang was shocked to discover that there was only $49 left in his bank account.

Zhang's bank statement showed that the scammer first siphoned $14,000 on Nov 15, and made seven more bank transfers on Nov 23 to wipe out the rest of his life savings.

Since Zhang could not speak English, his elder brother notified the bank about the former's plight.

Despite hoping that the money would be returned "out of goodwill", the bank notified Zhang in February this year that the appeal was unsuccessful and that he would not be receiving compensation.

Although he visited his home frequently, Zhang's elder brother said that he never knew that his sibling was worried about being caught up in a 'money laundering operation'.

If he had known about the interactions with the scammer, his brother would not be swindled out of his life savings, the older Zhang lamented, adding that his brother has been depressed and despondent since that incident.

The police said that the case is under investigation. 

In a similar incident of elderly folks losing their hard-earned money to scammers, a 77-year-old retiree lost $150,000 last month to swindlers impersonating as an officer from China Interpol.

How do members of the public prevent themselves from becoming a victim of impersonation scams?

The National Crime Prevention Council has advised the following:

• Be wary of numbers with the '+' prefix unless you are expecting an overseas call
• Never share personal information
• Verify the authenticity of the information or request through official websites, apps, email or call the company's hotline.

ALSO READ: 'I trusted her': Man, 62, hands $50k to 'lover' for safekeeping; she says no such thing

chingshijie@asiaone.com