Kingston, Ont. police issue warning on scammers targeting Chinese nationals in Canada

Police in Kingston, Ont. are issuing a public safety alert regarding frauds targeting Chinese nationals, more commonly students on visas, in Canada.

In a news release on Wednesday afternoon, police say the scams involve fraudsters contacting victims, pretending to be a police authority in China and demanding payment by claiming their bank accounts are linked to fraudulent activities.

"The targets are threatened with being charged and extradited to China. A pretext is then given for the target to send significant amounts of money to China as a way of avoiding charges," the release said.

More recently, victims have been receiving calls on their cellphones, with the call display indicating the name of their phone's service provider.

The fraudster would speak Mandarin and claimed there was another phone number in their name "connected to fraudulent activity." The victims were then directly to speak with police in Hunan province, in China.

Police say one victim looked up the number for police in Hunan using a Chinese search engine, but one victim was transferred by the caller to what they claimed was the Chinese police.

"In both cases, the victims ended up talking with someone claiming to be a police officer. This person then claimed to have run checks on their names and claimed that they were associated through different ways to Tian Huiyu – a Chinese banker recently accused of fraud and corruption," police said in the news release.

"The 'police' claim that they will charge the victim and have them extradited from Canada back to China."

Victims of the fraud were also told to send wire transfers to banks in China or Hong Kong, or to send them through Bitcoin.

Last year, a similar scam was reported in Waterloo, Ont., where Chinese students were scammed out of approximately $245,000 through an automated fraudster impersonating Chinese officials.

Another scam was reported near Toronto in December, after victims were allegedly threatened with extradition if they did not pay.

Kingston Police are advising the public, particularly the Chinese community, that no legitimate police agency, nor government would ask anyone to send funds or ask for funds to be paid with Bitcoin overseas.

Victims of the scam are asked to contact Kingston Police at 613-549-4660.