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Beware of fraud, officials warn
By Wang Yan (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-23 07:29
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BEIJING - Even as millions of Chinese are giving money to the quake victims in Yushu, a few malicious hucksters are trying to take advantage of donors' kind hearts.
In two separate cases, four suspects have been arrested for taking donations for quake relief in the name of a charity group, the Ministry of Public Security said in a statement.
A man surnamed Xue in South China's Hainan province was arrested on Tuesday for posting fraudulent Internet solicitations in the name of the Red Cross Society of China.
As of Tuesday, the police had retrieved 3,100 yuan ($454) of the 4,571 yuan from Xue's account, the ministry said. Police also confiscated four bankcards and two cell phones.
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The ministry said "a number of donations, each worth hundreds of yuan" were found in their personal accounts disguised as charity accounts under the name of the Red Cross Society of China.
The ministry gave no indication as to whether the two cases were connected.
The 12321 center listed the often-used fraudulency methods.
"Mom and dad, please send me some money to this account. I've lost everything because of the earthquake!" read one text message.
"The victims need you! The China Red Cross calls for helping hands. Please make your donations to the following bank account," read another. The account provided was a personal bank account, according to the 12321 center.
Some people have set up fake charity websites to collect donations. Some culprits even post notes on some popular websites to lead people into their trap.
The center said some people have pretended to be government officials or charity workers over the phone to talk people into making donations.
Those who try to use public sympathy to conduct illegal acts during the disaster period will be harshly punished, Wu Heping, spokesman for the Ministry of Public Security, said at a press conference on Sunday.
"We would like to call for the public to report to us any clues and evidence, so as to ensure the normal order of disaster relief and reassurance work," he said.
Fraudulent acts in times of disaster, although looked upon severely by the public, had previously occurred during the devastating Wenchuan earthquake on May 12, 2008.
That same month, a campaign was launched by major Chinese portal 163.com to ask people to post the cell phone numbers of the senders of fraudulent messages.
By May 21, 2008, some 15,485 reports of fraud messages had been posted or reported, involving people from more than 30 provinces and municipalities.
Xinhua contributed to this story
China Daily
(China Daily 04/23/2010 page6)
