scam
Married Chinese man cons 39 women out of $78,000 in romance scam using photos of attractive S. Korean men
- A married Chinese man was sentenced to 11 years and six months in prison and fined 30,000 yuan (approximately $4,166) for scamming 39 women.
- He Gansheng, a 38-year-old who lived with his wife and children in Hubei province, received his sentence in April 2021.
- The man reportedly conned the victims out of 560,000 yuan (approximately $77,772) between 2016 to 2020 by using two pictures of attractive South Korean men to pose as a professional, such as a doctor or a lawyer.
- He was eventually arrested after his last victim, a 22-year-old woman, asked her relatives for help after she gave him all her savings. The woman later reported the incident to the police in May 2020.
A Chinese man who reportedly scammed dozens of women out of tens of thousands of dollars by posing as a professional and using pictures of attractive South Korean men has been sentenced to more than 11 years in prison.
He Gansheng, a 38-year-old who lived with his wife and children in Hubei, was sentenced to 11 years and six months in prison. He was also fined 30,000 yuan (approximately $4,166) in April 2021, according to reports.
Why the 1,022 fake SpaceX employees from China could be part of an elaborate scam
- A rumor that Elon Musk’s SpaceX employs over 1,000 Tsinghua University graduates became a trending topic on Chinese social media in July.
- The figure used in the story came from search results on the professional networking platform LinkedIn, which showed that 1,022 of SpaceX’s 9,780 employees (10.44%) were Tsinghua graduates.
- However, it did not take long for internet sleuths to figure out that they were fake accounts as most of them contained near-identical descriptions.
- As soon as the fraudulent LinkedIn accounts were exposed, many speculated that they had been used in an elaborate online scheme called the “Pig Butchering Scam.”
- According to the FBI, “The fraud is named for the way scammers feed their victims with promises of romance and riches before cutting them off and taking all their money.”
- Grace Yuen of the volunteer group Global Anti-Scam Org (GASO) told MIT Technology Review: “Scammers started moving to LinkedIn maybe after dating sites tried to crack down on them, [like] Coffee Meets Bagel, Tinder.”
A rumor claiming that US spacecraft company SpaceX employs over 1,000 Tsinghua University graduates that spread on Chinese social media in July actually revealed an elaborate online scam.
The figure, as it turned out, came from search results on the professional networking platform LinkedIn.
Japanese man behind $2.9 million global ‘romance scam’ arrested in Ghana
- Hikaru Morikawa, a 58-year-old man accused of being the ringleader of a “romance scam” that swindled 65 victims out of nearly 400 million yen (approximately $2.9 million) in total, has been arrested at the request of INTERPOL Tokyo.
- “The suspect was put before court and was remanded into lawful custody awaiting his removal from the country,” the Ghana Police Service announced in a tweet on Aug. 2. “The INTERPOL Unit of the Ghana Police Service is working with the Ghana Immigration Service, INTERPOL Tokyo and the Japanese Embassy in Ghana for his removal.”
- Morikawa was placed on INTERPOL’s international wanted list in August 2021, and his mug shot was publicly released in May.
- Police believe Morikawa has been living in Ghana since August 2018.
A Japanese man believed to be the ringleader of a notorious “romance scam” that swindled dozens of victims out of nearly 400 million yen (approximately $2.9 million) in total has been detained in Ghana.
The Ghana Police Service confirmed in a tweet on Aug. 2 that they have arrested Hikaru Morikawa, 58, upon the request of Interpol Tokyo. The arrest came after Morikawa’s passport was revoked by Japan.
Popular YouTuber flees Thailand after allegedly scamming over 6,000 victims out of $55 million
- A popular Thai YouTuber has fled abroad after scamming thousands of investors out of two billion baht (approximately $55 million).
- The woman, who claimed to be a successful forex trader, defrauded over 6,000 people and has allegedly run away to Malaysia.
- On Aug. 24, 30 people filed a complaint against the YouTuber.
- The YouTuber, who runs a channel called Nutty’s Diary which has over 800,000 subscribers, last posted around five months ago.
A popular Thai YouTuber who claimed to be a successful forex trader has reportedly left the country after it was discovered that she allegedly defrauded over 6,000 victims out of two billion baht (approximately $55 million).
Natthamon Khongchak, known as Nutty’s Diary on YouTube with a channel boasting over 800,000 subscribers, allegedly fled abroad to Malaysia. Claiming to be a successful forex trader, Natthamon used her platform to lure victims into investing money with the promise of high returns in short periods of time.
54-year-old Vietnamese American man scammed out of $139,000 by online lover
A 35-year-old woman in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, is being investigated for allegedly scamming a Vietnamese American man out of $139,000.
Doan, 54, met the alleged scammer, Truong Thi Cam Nhung, on an online dating site, where he fell in love with her and eventually asked her to visit the U.S. Truong reportedly told Doan that she could only do so with a visa, which she told him in March that she would do an interview for. She then told Doan that in order to do so, she would need to prove that she had at least $39,000 in her bank account before asking him for the money.
Catfisher in China dated mother and son for 5 years — allegedly scammed them out of $20,000
- A man in China is being sued for catfishing a mother and son out of 140,000 yuan (approximately $20,669) by pretending to date the two for almost five years.
- The man conned the woman over the Chinese social media platform WeChat and posed as a woman online while pretending to date the son.
- The man met the mother in 2018 and became involved with the son at the end of the year.
- The two “dated” the man until he was reported to police in February of this year.
A mother and son in China are suing a man for allegedly conning them out of 140,000 yuan (approximately $20,669) while pretending to date the pair for nearly five years.
The catfisher, surnamed Song, is accused of scamming the mother and son over WeChat. Song is currently being sued at the Huining county court in Gansu province of northwestern China.
Married woman in China who dated 18 men at once arrested for scamming them out of $300,000
- A married woman in China allegedly scammed around 20 men into funding her luxurious lifestyle, totaling more than 2 million yuan (approximately $296,256).
- The 29-year-old woman would fake a marriage agreement and request money to help various family members.
- The woman has been legally married since 2014 and has a 2-year-old son.
- Police are currently investigating the situation.
To fund her lavish lifestyle, a married woman in China reportedly conned almost 20 men into giving her a total of 2 million yuan (approximately $296,256) since 2017.
The 29-year-old woman, surnamed Wu, began luring men into fake marriage agreements in 2017, even allegedly dating 18 men at once, reported Shanghai TV.
YouTuber gets scam ring in India arrested after hacking into their office’s CCTV cameras
- A YouTuber known as Scambaiter allegedly hacked into the CCTV cameras of a scam ring office and posted a detailed video of the entire process.
- In the 20-minute clip, viewers are given a look at CCTV footage taken from June 13-24, beginning with video of the alleged scammers at work posing as Best Buy’s Geek Squad tech support employees and ending with their arrest by local police in Punjab, India.
- Scambaiter regularly uploads scambaiting videos on their channel in which they “destroy scammers” by “hacking” into their computers.
- As shown in the video, the scam ring office looks surprisingly similar to any other office, with rows of desks neatly sectioned off by dividers.
- Footage of several calls made out to potential victims are also included in the video, with the scammers charging $339 for fake firewall services.
A YouTuber allegedly hacked into the CCTV cameras of an India-based scam ring office and gathered enough evidence of fraud to alert local police, which ultimately led to five arrests.
The most recent video uploaded by Scambaiter on Sunday, titled “I Got Scammers ARRESTED On Their CCTV Cameras!”, has garnered nearly a million views at the time of this writing.
Woman loses $300,000 worth of bitcoin to person who posed as a Chinese architect on dating app Hinge
- Tho Vu, 33, lost about $300,000 worth of bitcoin after being scammed by her Hinge match.
- The scammer, who went by the name Ze Zhao, earned her trust by promising her a honeymoon and a new life together.
- According to Vu, she deposited her bitcoin into the digital wallet that the man gave her.
- The digital wallet turned out to be owned by Ze, who disappeared soon after receiving Vu’s payment.
A woman lost almost her entire savings after getting scammed by a man she met on dating platform Hinge.
Tho Vu, 33, thought she found romance on the platform when she was matched with a man who claimed to be a Chinese architect living in Maryland, reported the New York Times.
Chinese student loses NFT worth $548,000 after clicking on a scam link
- A fourth-year student at Shanghai’s Tongji University posted on Discord that he had lost a valuable NFT from the Doodles collective that was worth half of his NFT assets to a phishing scam.
- The NFT that belonged to Niq Chen is worth around $548,000, based on the $1.1 million paid by collector Pranksy for a different Doodles NFT.
- OpenSea, a NFT marketplace, had 17 users fall victim to phishing scams that stole around $1.7 million total in NFTs.
- Upon request, OpenSea froze the stolen NFT, and Chen is hoping to work out a deal with the buyer in order to retrieve his assets.
A senior at Shanghai’s Tongji University, Niq Chen, had a valuable NFT worth about $548,000 stolen after falling for a phishing scam.
According to South China Morning Post, Chen went “all in” buying non-fungible tokens (NFT) before recently losing about half of his assets to a phishing scam. The stolen NFT was bought from the Doodles collective NFT project and was worth $548,000.
Scammers steal $3.3 million by pulling rug from under ‘Squid Game’ cryptocurrency investors
Within days of launching, SQUID coin was shuttered and its creators made away with millions, suggesting it was a cryptocurrency scam known as a “rug pull.”
Rise in popularity: Although unaffiliated with the hit Korean Netflix show “Squid Game,” the cryptocurrency took advantage of its namesake’s popularity to convince more than 40,000 people to invest.
Nas Academy denies profiting off beloved Filipino tattoo artist Whang-Od Oggay
Online learning platform Nas Academy has denied allegations that the course featuring a beloved Filipino tattoo artist is a scam.
The accusation: A Facebook post went viral on Wednesday accusing Nas Academy of taking advantage and profiting off 104-year-old Whang-Od Oggay, a traditional tattoo artist from Buscalan, Tinglayan, Kalinga, Philippines.
