Warning: Cheated in China AGAIN HELP!!!!!!

[ask_weasal]

I wont go to the consulate until next month im afraid that I wil lget deported. So i'm stalling. The passport is not that bad but I want to get a new one on the matter of princiiple. I reckon I could still get home with that passport. I'm thinking about it because the embassy or consulate here is as useful as salt water in a desert. And I doint want to get fucked over yet again and I have no way of proving my citizenship because its hard as hell to get a SS# here from china and phone bill. Think about it Roddy....there is a reason for everything

[imron]

I don't think it's something you'd get deported for. You've been the victim of this scheme, and not the perpetrator.

Anyway, according to the US embassy's webpage, you don't need a phone bill or SS#. Your old passport should be sufficient - providing it hasn't been tampered with too much. Either that, or a sworn statement from another US citizen who has known you for at least 2 years.

They do sting you with the processing fee though.... 785 RMB!!

[roddy]

Cheaper than the UK, just paid a little over 1000Y for my passport renewal - I did get it back in one day though, as they were clearing their desks before the holiday. Cheeky gits close at 3.30pm though, why come back after lunch . . ?

Why are you not worried about getting deported next month? I'm halfway tempted to email the US consulate myself to see if they're aware of this, still no reply from the British one. Probably necking G&T's at the Kerry Center.

[imron]

still no reply from the British one. Probably necking G&T's at the Kerry Center.

Naturally, I mean surely you don't expect them to work during the May week holiday!

[mr.stinky]

weasel. sorry to say this (well not really) but you truly are a freakin' idiot. how in the

hell could anyone with half the IQ of a turnip fall for this scam? do you reply to emails

from nigeria, claiming some ex-minister died leaving 25 million dollars in a bank account

in holland, and if you help retrieve it you'll get a 25% cut? what kind of damn fool would

lend out a passport for an obviously illegal scheme?

yes, go get your new passport. but do be careful. the consulate employees may merely

be bueurocrats, but they're not half as dimwitted as you. they probably know of this

particular scam, and will be suspicious of any altered passport. i suggest if they ask you

certain questions that you come clean. you've already broken any number of laws; don't

add perjury under oath to the list. and don't try to give cute clintonesque answers...you're

obviously not smart enough.

and please do this soon...before some nutjob with a forged copy of your passport flies a

jetliner into an office building.

[gougou]

sorry to say this (well not really) but you truly are a freakin' idiot. how in the

hell could anyone with half the IQ of a turnip fall for this scam?

Again, not the kind of language that promotes a constructive discussion.

About renewing the passport, I think it is quite possible to convince the consulate that you weren't aware you were doing something illegal (a flyer like the one imron posted would help immensely). Depending on how much of a friend you still consider your American acquaintance, you might get him into it as well. Certainly would take some of the burden off you.

Reporting the passport as stolen might not the best idea if you used your real name here, it might just happen that the guy handling your case is a member of these forums...

[Shadowdh]

Again, not the kind of language that promotes a constructive discussion.

hmmm perhaps, but sometimes the truth is the bitterest medicine... also honesty is a beautiful thing (although diplomacy should be the bedfellow of honesty... at least thats what my wife tells me...)

[roddy]

hmmm perhaps, but sometimes the truth is the bitterest medicine...

Yes, but there's a difference between 'you were stupid to . . ' and 'half the IQ of a turnip', and language like that is much more likely to encourage a stronger response, which leads to this kind of nonsense that makes me want to sell the forums for 50Y and a bottle of cheap booze, ono.

[self-taught-mba]

It happened in reverse for once:

ROME (Reuters) - He had heard Rome was expensive but nothing prepared the Hong Kong tourist for a 990 euro ($1,251) beer.

The unwary visitor received the bumper bar bill for a drink sipped near Rome's most famous street, Via Veneto, where beers usually cost as much as 10 euros, Rome mayor's office said.

The tourist, who was traveling alone, was invited to the bar by a tout who served him a beer and then said it would cost him 990 euros. He bartered it down to 490 euros, but the bar owner ended up taking 990 euros off his credit card anyway.

>>>>>>

It's like the tea house scam in reverse

[stil]

So they use your passport to buy the car?

Have you tried reporting YOUR car stolen?

[ord100]

He sounds really honest. Why else would he give away $15 million? He doesn't even want your passport!

drnelsonwilliams222@yahoo.de

FROM DR NELSON WILLIAMS

DIRECTOR OF FINANCE

AUDITING AND ACCOUNTING UNIT,

CEMAC BANK OF AFRICA,

COTONOU-BENIN REPBLIC.

PLEASE REPLY ME TO MY PRIVATE BOX nelson_williams155@yahoo.co.uk

ATTN: MY FRIEND,

MY NAME IS DR NELSON WILLIAMS, A BANKER BY PROFESSION AND CURRENTLY A DIRECTOR WITH CEMAC BANK OF AFRICA COTONOU BENIN REPUBLIC BRANCH. I GET YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS IN MY SEARCH FOR A REPUTABLE AND RELIABLE PERSON TO HELP ME CLAIM THE SUM OF UD$15 MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS DEPOSITED IN OUR BANK BY ONE OF OUR CUSTOMER WHO DIE WITH THE WIFE AND TWO CHILDREN ON THE 21ST DAY OF APRIL 2000 IN A CAR CLASH ALONG NOVESSEL ROAD.

SINCE HIS DEATH NO ONE HAS COME UP AS HIS NEXT OF KIN AND ALL OUR EFFORTS TO LOCATE ANY MEMBER OF HIS IMMEDIATE FAMILY HAS PROVE ABORTIVE THAT WAS WHY I DECIDED TO SEE IF I CAN GET ANYBODY WHO HAS THE SAME SURNAME OR LAST NAME WITH HIM VIA INTERNET PREFERABLY SOME ONE OF THE SAME NATIONALITY WITH HIM

WHICH I BELIEVE YOU HAVE ALL THE QUALITIES WE NEED WHY I AM CONTACTING YOU IS TO PRESENT YOU TO OUR BANK AS THE NEXT OF KIN TO OUR DECEASED COSTUMER HE WAS A DRILLING CONTRACTOR WITH SOME OIL COMPANIES HERE IN WEST AFRICA,BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE

SAME SURNAME/LAST NAME WITH HIM AND HE IS FROM THE SAME COUNTRY WITH YOU.SO IT WILL BE MORE ACCEPTABLE AND WISER TO PRESENT YOU THROUGH PAPER WORK TO THE BANK FOR THE CLAIM OF THE TOTAL FUND.

I WILL GIVE YOU ALL THE NECESSARY REQUIREMENTS THAT THE BANK MAY REQUEST FROM YOU AND FOLLOW UP THE TRANSFER OF THE FUND INTO YOUR A/C AS AN INSIDER. IT WILL INTEREST YOU TO KNOW THAT I AND MY PARTNERS HAS BEEN KEEPING OUR EYES ON THIS FUNDS AND HAS PUT THE ACCOUNT BLIND AND COVERED TO THE PUBLIC BY KEEPING

THE ACCOUNT DORMANT TO ENABLE OUR PLANS FOR THE FUNDS TO COME THROUGH AND THIS IS THE TIME AND WE ARE HAPPY TO LOCATE YOU FOR THE PERFECTION OF THE TRANSFER OF THE FUND INTO YOUR NOMINATED BANK A/C TO BE GIVEN.

AS SOON AS I GET YOUR POSITIVE RESPONSE I WILL UPDATE YOU ABOUT THE MODE OF DISBURSEMENT AND WE WILL ALSO NEED TO KNOW ABOUT INVESTING IN YOUR COUNTRY AS A WAY TO OF HELPING YOU PEOPLE WHO SUPPOSE ARE THE ORIGINAL OWNERS OF THIS FUNDS .

LOOKING FORWARD TO YOUR URGENT RESPONSE BY UPDATING ME WITH YOUR DIRECT TELEPHONE AND FAX NUMBER FOR EASY COMMUNICATION.

YOURS SPECIALLY

DR NELSON WILLIAMS.

[necroflux]

So they use your passport to buy the car?

Have you tried reporting YOUR car stolen?

Ingenius Stil, Ingenius.

[ask_weasal]

Yeah I think gougou is right. Call me stupid your preaching to the choir. Don't add insult to injury. I'm sure you have gotten cheated one time or another in China. Ever received the foriegn menu?

[ask_weasal]

Yeah I think gougou is right. Call me stupid your preaching to the choir. Don't add insult to injury. I'm sure you have gotten cheated one time or another in China. Ever received the foriegn menu?

[gougou]

Let's do the timewarp again...

It pleases me, though, that it just happens to be the message where somebody agrees with me

[mrtoga]

If I was the "victim" of this fraud I do not think I would be reporting it to the embassy as my role in it would also be examined. I imagine accepting money to lend a passport to another for nefarious purposes is illegal.

I would also not be advertising my role in the episode on a public forum. I trust ran-ran did not use his real name as the footnote on his initial post........

[LFCLOUDS]

anyone know what happened to OP in the end?

[roddy]

He hasn't signed in since October. I'd guess he either

a) made it home safely

B) is wearing orange overalls after US Immigration didn't believe his story about what happened to his passport

or

c) was persuaded to sell both kidneys.

[HashiriKata]

was persuaded to sell both kidneys.

He probably only rented them out but hasn't got them back yet!

[flameproof]

While we wait, maybe we can turn the threat into a general "cheating" threat?

I found the situation in Beijing quite annoying. When you walk in Wangfujing or Tiananmen you can constantly approached by "art students" which, oh what a lucky chance, have an exhibition right now. And I, and only I have the chance to get ripped off with their inflated prices.

Less common is the "tea scam", where they talk you into a cup of tea, which is then a "special" tea, but still very reasonable priced at RMB 1500

I thought that this happens only to foreigners. Wrong! I QQ met a girl in Beijing. She didn't spoke a single word of English. She wanted to meet right away (was around midnight). Anyway, we met the next afternoon near the Traditional Medicine Hospital.

So far so good. The idea was to go for a drink. She wanted to go to a nearby bar. It was a downstairs place, dark and sleazy looking. I smelled immediately the "bar scam". After I suggested "Starbucks" she completely lost interest and disappeared.

So, whatever you do, watch out!