Prompt police action stops online fraudsters

A local company was tricked into paying 3.9 million yuan (US$600,000) to Internet scammers, but police managed to have the money transfer frozen in time, Shanghai police said on Wednesday.

The company reported the case to police in Putuo District at 6pm on March 29.

That morning, a new employee in the human resources department, a man surnamed Du, received an email from someone claiming to be the company’s boss, asked Du to send him the company’s contact list.

Du did as he was told. Minutes later, the “boss” sent another email, asking him to let the company’s chief financial officer, a man surnamed Bai, join a group on QQ, an instant messaging platform. Bai also did as he was told.

In the group with Bai were the “boss” and his “deputy” who were discussing cooperation with another company. At 4pm, the two asked Bai to pay 3.9 million yuan to that company’s account, saying it was a deposit the other company had paid to them earlier.

Bai again did as he was told, only realizing it was a fraud when he reported the money transfer to a superior later, police said.

The “boss” and his “deputy” in the QQ group were scammers, using an old ruse played against companies.

Police immediately contacted the bank and stopped the money from being paid to the scammers’ account and the money was recovered.