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June 22, 2021

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Home » District » Minhang

Calls to police decline, work to warn public of scams rises

Minhang police said the number of calls they received in the first six months of this year declined by 45 percent, compared to the same period in 2017.

The bulk of calls to police relate to fraud, noise, family conflicts and public disorder.

The police used the data to highlight the top 10 areas of the district where telecom fraud occurs in a quest to figure out why. Many of the areas involve schools or residential communities where people may have less awareness of scams.

A vocational school in Wujing Town, for example, where many students have part-time jobs, showed a high incidence of fraud-related calls.

Police met with students at the school to discuss the most common tricks of fraudsters. Calls to police dropped 50 percent after that.

Police also point to subdistricts where residents fall into scam traps even after they are warned about them. Authorities said it’s often hard to change mindsets.

For example, a police officer recently talked to an elderly woman while she walked her dog. He explained the risk of a virtual currency scam currently making the rounds. It took him 45 minutes to convince her to be wary.

Police have worked with the residential committees to set up volunteer teams to keep up the campaign.

In Meilong Town alone, there are about 150 such teams with more than 600 volunteers.

Anti-fraud work is conducted both online and off, said Shi Liang, head of the police station in the Gumei region.

This year alone, the station has aired 15 online sessions about fraud and also developed a mini program for cell phones so that people can contact authorities quickly if they believe they have been scammed.




 

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