Police use social media to combat online fraud

Falling into a trap

Guo Shaomei, from Shanxi province, is one of Gao's viewers. She said it is smart of the police to prevent online fraud in ways that people can easily understand.

The 57-year-old always pays attention to anti-fraud information because she was cheated about a decade ago, when she worked for the finance department of a company in Linfen, Shanxi.

One day, she went to a bank to transfer money to another company. After she had sent 300,000 yuan (about $47,000 today) and was ready to leave, she received a text from what appeared to be an official bank number. The message said the company had changed its bank account, and provided details of a new one.

"I didn't think about it much because I was just finishing the transfer and my fraud awareness was low at the time. So, I believed the message, canceled the previous operation and transferred the money to the 'new' account," Guo said.

"I didn't realize I had been cheated until noon the next day, when the company told me that the money had not arrived in its account. I quickly called the police."

The message was found to have come from a number in Jiangxi province. Thanks to the efforts of police at both ends, the swindler was detained and the money recovered.

"I was lucky, as I didn't suffer a financial loss," Guo said, adding that the experience made her more vigilant about calls and texts from strangers.