FBI Warns Police Impersonation Scam Targeting Chinese International Students
Udumbara
The FBI is warning international college students, particularly those from China, about scams involving criminal actors impersonating foreign law enforcement officials.
These criminals run a scheme in which they unnerve their victims by falsely claiming that they are under investigation for an alleged financial crime in China and must pay to avoid arrest, according to the field office.
“We are actively engaging with the public, academic institutions, and our law enforcement partners to identify and support those impacted by this scheme,” Wayne A. Jacobs, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Field Office, said in a statement.
“These scams inflict more than just financial harm—many victims endure lasting emotional and psychological distress.
The Scheme
To mislead victims, scammers make their phone numbers appear to originate from a mobile telecom provider, a large retailer, a delivery service, or the Chinese embassy or consulate.The field office explained that the scheme typically consists of four steps.
First, scammers deceive their victims by claiming that their personal identification information is tied to a suspect or victim involved in a financial fraud investigation.
The phone call is then transferred to someone posing as a member of a “Chinese provincial police department” allegedly conducting an investigation, the FBI said. Victims may be pressured to return to China to stand trial or threatened with arrest.
The scammers will try to convince victims to agree to 24/7 video and audio monitoring due to the alleged sensitivity of the investigation, a requirement to show innocence, or both. Additionally, victims will be instructed not to discuss the case with others or conduct internet searches related to it, but they must report all their daily activities.
Finally, the scammers instruct victims to wire a large amount of money to a Chinese bank account as proof of their innocence or to pay bail to avoid being sent back to China.
Since the beginning of the year, the FBI’s Philadelphia Field Office has repeatedly used X to seek information about a photographed Chinese individual accused of defrauding multiple Chinese students in the United States through a law enforcement impersonation scam.
Transnational Repression
In an episode of the “Inside the FBI Podcast“ aired in May, FBI officials explained that these scammers are based in China and are financially motivated. They added that this type of scam can be particularly effective because Beijing has used similar tactics against overseas Chinese in what is known as transnational repression.“By pretending to be Chinese law enforcement, these scammers are engaging in transnational repression, or TNR, which is when a foreign government attempts to intimidate, silence, coerce, harass, or harm its citizens living outside of its own borders,” the podcast’s narrator said.
During video calls with victims, scammers “go to great lengths to physically appear as Chinese law enforcement,” the narrator said, explaining that they may dress in uniforms with badges, display documents resembling warrants, and speak from settings that resemble courtrooms.
“These fraudsters, they’re equal opportunity thieves,” an FBI official named Will said in the podcast. “Every dollar they get from one of these scams to these unfortunate students is also funding some other fraud someplace else.
“And those frauds are linked to money laundering. They’re linked to drug activities. They’re linked to identity thefts. It’s all interconnected.”
“His credentials appeared legitimate, and I was really, really scared. So I went along with what he told me to do,” Benjamin said.
“I had to transfer a lot of money to an overseas bank in Hong Kong, travel to another city, and hide out for weeks under 24/7 monitoring, cut contact with everyone, and hand over all of my electronic devices.
“It was so stressful and painful. I felt trapped and saw no escape from that situation.”
