Chinese man paid thousands to online fraudster

A second international student at the University of Stirling has been left thousands of pounds out of pocket after being targeted by cruel scammers.

The 24-year-old Chinese man was contacted on Sunday, June 3, by someone claiming to be from the Chinese authorities.

They said that he was subject to a criminal investigation and that unless a sum of money was paid, an international arrest warrant would be sought.

After the student was directed to a website a five-figure sum of cash was paid over to the suspect.

This follows a similar incident last month in which another international student at the university lost £1000 when fraudsters threatened her over her immigration status.

The Observer reported that the 19-year-old from India was left devastated when the criminals said that there was an issue with her landing card and that she had to pay to have it resolved.

She was contacted by somebody claiming to be from the Indian Embassy who said that she could make the payment through the purchase of iTunes gift cards to resolve the matter.

On the back of the latest incident, police are urging international students to remain vigilant of this type of scam and to come forward and contact police if they think they have been targeted.

Superintendent David Pettigrew from the national safer communities division said: “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.”

He added: “Our advice to the public is to never provide unsolicited 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.”

For crime prevention advice go to scotland.police.uk or to report an incident contact police on 101.