There has been several post about this incident with the same narrative. As I am reading through it I started grasping the extent of how many were targeted who went through the same thing!
You can say I am guillable and stupid to have believed this thing was real for couple weeks. So I had to write this post to share some additional details because I got exposed to the spinoffs much further. And hopefully to bring more visibility to this scam that has sicked me terribly.
Now like all the victim who shared their stories, I also happen to speak Mandarin. So I fell deep into this one.
About 3 weeks ago, like how other post described the scam, I had the same situation happen - a Fido chinense customer service rep from 18884813436 named Wei Lin called me and informed me there is a number 4162085734 registered under my name, which had been producing 12000+ spam messages had been flagged by CRTC. He said the number was applied via online and the SIM card was picked up at an airport in Shanghai, China. He pointed out it is a possible case of identity theft. He then transferred me to Shanghai China police department. I stayed on the call with the police and reported the incidence. The police then ran a record to see if my profile matched with any other suspicious activity in China. Turns out there is a bank account at Industrial and Commercial Bank of China opened under my name which was involved in financial fraud and money laundering. The police continued on to tell me these illegal transaction totalled over 2million USD. This bank account is one of over 400+ bank account that committed financial fraud. This is a highly classified cross border Chinese-Canadian criminal cased under active investigation by the Chinese government. Since my name is on the bank account, I am now a suspect and could be charged for money laundering with heavy sentence if found guilty. I was believing everything at that point. Then we switched to voice call on Teams where he even showed me a picture of the prime suspect and asked me if I recognize the person. He said this person is under custody in China. While you keep everything to yourself in the next while, we will connect again in the next few days and provide you updates and have you answer further questions as the investigation progress. Since you are a suspect, you need to cooperate with the the police and keep this a secret, do not disclose details about this investigation to anyone since it is highly classified.
A week later on a call with the same police, he showed me more suspects from a crime organization involved in producing fake ID, and showed me documents of the interrgation record the police had with the prime suspect, specifically regarding how the person knew me. And I saw on the record that the person told the police she knew me from wechat and she made a deal with me to split profit from the crime etc.
This is now where it finally dawned on me, OMG holy **bleep** this is actually a scam from top to bottom. Firstly I actually believed about the phone number being created, and about the bank account. I did lose my wallet a fews ago. Despite me having reported loss, my ID could have been leaked. But I don't even talk to anyone much on wechat, I would definitely remember having conversation with a stranger.
I called CRTC today, they don't actually flag numbers and file report to telecommunication company.
This scam scheme runs very very deep and VERY elaborate. If the fido rep is a scam, then the alleged police on the phone from China is also a scam and everything about the financial fraud case where I'm a suspect is also a scam. OMG. 😱 They keep feeding you very believale, well fabriacated lies to lure you in. Especially with the alleged police guy, he spent many several hours on Teams call with me brainstorming possible direction to investigate this crime further. Like it is actually insane the depth and effort put in. I can't even begin the fathom what their end goal is.
For everyone out here, please do not fall for the scam, and Fido please do us all a favour and properly investigate this. The fraud department phone number 18883818076 line is never open. I have been wanting to report it to you guys on multiple attempts. Please do better.
