Police warn: Scammers targeting Vancouver’s Chinese community

More than two dozen Vancouver residents have lost nearly $6 million in scams targeting the city’s Chinese community, authorities say. Some of the victims sent money to foreign banks after receiving calls from scammers posing as Chinese police officers.

The Vancouver Police Department said financial crimes detectives are investigating 26 cases in which Chinese residents have been defrauded of thousands of dollars since the beginning of the year. There are likely more victims who have not yet come forward.

Investigators say all of the victims fell victim to three specific types of financial fraud.

The first scam involves a phone call from a fake number in which the caller claims to be a Chinese police officer. The caller tells the victim that he is in trouble with the Chinese authorities but can clear things up by sending money to a bank in Hong Kong.

Another scam involves perpetrators approaching elderly Chinese people and telling them that if they do not give them cash or jewelry, their victim or their loved ones will suffer bad luck or their health will deteriorate.

“The suspects prey on the victim’s spiritual beliefs and fear that bad things will happen to their loved ones,” the department said in a news release Friday. “In some cases, the scammers exchange jewelry and cash for a worthless gift.”

A third type of scam involves Chinese job ads offering salaries ranging from $100 to $300 a day for jewelry-making jobs. But when victims respond to the ads, they are duped into a bogus opportunity for romance or investment, police say.

“Vulnerable and unsuspecting people in our community are being scammed into sending thousands of dollars to people they have never met,” Vancouver police spokeswoman Const. Tania Visintin said in a statement.

“By the time they realize they’ve been scammed, the scammers are gone and their money is gone.”

Police are asking the public to share information about scams with friends and family and to report suspected scams to Vancouver Police at 604-717-3321.