Harvard University Study Abroad Scam

Nowadays, scammers are everywhere. Recently, many parents in Taizhou, Zhejiang Province have received fraudulent text messages sent in the name of their children! Let’s talk about the Harvard University study abroad scam.

On November 27, the Taizhou Anti-Fraud Center received 6 similar alarms in one day, and a parent was defrauded of 230,000 yuan!

As a parent, Xin After working hard all my life, my greatest wish is for my children to be happy, healthy and prosperous. Therefore, as long as it is about paving the way for their children's future, especially investment in education, the vast majority of parents are willing to spend money.

However, pervasive scammers have captured this mentality of parents.

The "daughter" is going to Harvard University as an exchange student

The father happily spent half of his life savings

A senior professor from Harvard University came to China to provide training class, and also have the opportunity to serve as an exchange student and be recommended to Harvard to study for one year. As a parent of your child, will you pay this high tuition fee?

Harvard! Your child is so motivated;

It’s not too late for parents to be happy, so they must support it!

< p>At 9:40 in the morning on November 27, Mr. Cai, the owner of the pork stall at the Chengbei Wet Market in Wenling, Taizhou, received a strange text message.

"Dad, I am Xiaoli. My phone fell into the water while doing laundry this morning and could not be turned on. Now I am in class and I borrowed my classmate’s phone to tell you something urgent. Our school invited Harvard University in the United States Senior professors come to the school to give face-to-face training, and the number of places is limited. One class costs 46,800, do you think I can go?”

Mr. Cai’s daughter is a junior in college in Hangzhou and has always been very good in studies. Mr. Cai called his daughter, but he couldn't get through. He thought his daughter's phone was really broken. "Okay! If you have a chance to study, go!"

"Dad, hurry up and sign up for me! Just pay the money directly to Teacher Li's account in our school." After a while, The "daughter" sent the "teacher"'s name, phone number and bank account number.

Based on the phone number in the message, Mr. Cai contacted the head tutor of the foreign language department of his "daughter" school, who told him that there was only one spot left, so if you want to register, pay the fee as soon as possible!

After that, the "daughter" sent another text message:

"It's my fault that I didn't make it clear to you. 46,800 yuan is the training fee for one course, but I signed up for two training courses and still need to pay 46,800 yuan." Yuan..."

Mr. Cai said: "Money is no problem, study is the most important thing." So, Mr. Cai went to the bank to transfer 46,800 yuan to the other party's account.

Things are not over yet, the scammers are getting more and more rampant.

After a while, Mr. Cai received another text message from his "daughter":

"Dad, they said that after this training, those with excellent grades can be directly recommended to study at Harvard for one year. !But there are only 10 places for exchange students in the training class, and the tuition is 20,000 US dollars. It ends at 12 o'clock. Is it okay if I want to go?"

For the sake of his daughter's bright future, Mr. Cai fully supports it. He converted 20,000 U.S. dollars into about 130,000 RMB at the current exchange rate, and remitted the money to another designated account given by his "daughter." After the money was transferred, it was already around 12 noon.

In this way, one after another, this Taizhou father spent 230,000 savings for his daughter ***!

There are many parents who hope that their children will become successful

< p> Scammers have succeeded many times and many parents have been fooled

The results can be imagined.

It wasn’t until 4 p.m. that Mr. Cai called his daughter’s original phone number. After chatting, he realized that he had been deceived and there was no such thing as training, so he quickly reported the case to the police.

Fortunately, Mr. Cai called the police in time, and the last remittance of more than 130,000 yuan was successfully recovered, but the previous two sums had already been transferred by the scammer.

It is understood that Mr. Cai’s experience is not an isolated case. Similar fraud cases have occurred frequently recently, and many parents across Taizhou have been victimized. "On one day like November 27, our alarm platform received 6 such reports."

Anti-Fraud Center Reminder

This type of fraud has occurred frequently recently, and criminals Pretending to be a child studying away from home, he claimed that his cell phone had fallen into the water, borrowed someone else's cell phone, and contacted his parents, claiming that he had the opportunity to participate in a class taught by a senior professor at Harvard University in the United States and that his parents needed to pay training fees to commit fraud.

At the same time, parents are prevented from getting in touch with their children on the grounds that the mobile phone is damaged or it is inconvenient to answer the phone during class.

The police remind citizens that if they encounter any information involving fund transfer requests, they must contact the child in time to confirm whether the situation is true before making any remittance transfer to avoid falling into the trap of criminals. . If you receive a similar call, please dial 110 immediately.

It is not easy for international students!

How to deal with scams on the way to study abroad?

In order to prevent fraud, parents and students can agree on code words in advance and only use them at critical times. The chat records must never be leaked. For example, you can agree with the parents to use dialects or repeated words, or a small secret gesture, so as to ensure that the family can accurately identify the student's identity.

When parents cannot contact their children, they must be calm and calm!

It is recommended that students must tell their parents the contact information of friends in the same dormitory or traveling with them, and develop a habit of calling home regularly. The habit of reporting peace.

To international students, one must be cautious when abroad and adhere to the "three no's principles" - no credulity, no disclosure, and no transfer.

Do not trust strangers, do not reveal your privacy to strangers, and do not transfer money to strangers casually. When encountering suspicious situations, you should communicate with family and friends in a timely manner, seek help, and report the case to the police in a timely manner.