US Students: wechat scammer tricks that steal savings
When a polite-sounding WeChat call becomes a bank robber If you’re a United States student, researcher, or expat in China (or planning to come), you already know WeChat is the backbone of everyday life here — payments, university admin, housing chats, and the dinner invite. That convenience is a double-edged sword. Since late 2024, impersonation scams tied to Chinese firms exploded: between Aug 28 and the end of that year, at least 1,591 cases were reported with losses north of $27.9 million. One example people still talk about is the woman who believed an elaborate lie about an insurance policy called “protection from scams insurance.” She was told by someone posing as a WeChat employee that she’d mistakenly bought the policy and had to transfer large sums to “cancel” it — and ended up borrowing tens of thousands and losing most of her savings. ...