Police Scotland has issued a warning to the public of an ongoing ‘scam’ targeting Chinese students.
On Sunday 3 June, a 24-year-old man studying at Stirling University was contacted by someone claiming to be from the Chinese authorities.
The caller stated that the victim was subject to criminal investigation and unless a sum of money was paid, an international arrest warrant would be sought.
After directing the male to a website a five figure sum of cash was paid over to the suspect.Officers are now urging other Chinese students to be vigilant of this scam and to come forward if they’ve already been targeted.
Superintendent David Pettigrew from the National Safer Communities Division said, “At this time, this seems to be the only reported incident of this kind in this area, which has been reported to Police Scotland. However, there may be other victims who do not know they have been defrauded and so haven’t come forward.
“Similar scams have been reported in England and Australia previously and we want to raise awareness within our universities to prevent more Chinese students being affected.
“We are treating this matter with the utmost seriousness and would urge anyone with any information that can assist our inquiries, or who has fallen victim to this crime, to contact police immediately.
“Our advice to the public is to never provide unsollicited callers or emailers with any of your personal information and under no circumstances agree to transfer them any money. If you are approached in this manner, or if you have any doubts about the authenticity of a person, then contact police immediately.
“A range of useful crime prevention advice is available on our website on our Keep Safe pages.”
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
