Nanfang Daily News (Reporter/Xia Xiaoliz, Correspondent/Wen Miao Sen) - Yesterday, the Foshan police issued a warning: with more and more citizens in Foshan purchasing cars and houses, fraud gangs are taking advantage of this by using tactics such as "car purchase tax refund" and "house purchase tax refund". They deceive car owners and homeowners by claiming that they can process tax refunds for newly purchased vehicles or houses. This has led to 38 citizens falling victim, losing a total of over 980,000 yuan.
According to the police, the method used by the fraud gang is as follows: suspects call the victims, pretending to be staff from the Vehicle Management Office, Tax Bureau, or Housing Authority. By stating the relevant information of car owners or homeowners, they gain the victim's trust. Then, under the pretense of "car purchase tax refund" or "house purchase tax refund", they request the victim to operate an ATM machine to transfer a certain percentage of the alleged tax refund amount. The suspect then withdraws the victim's money from an ATM machine located in another area.
At around 10 a.m. on September 22, Chen was working at a construction site in Chancheng when he suddenly received a call from a woman in Beijing. She claimed to be handling vehicle purchase tax refund matters and asked Chen if he had bought a sport utility vehicle with the license plate number "粤E/1G4...". After Chen confirmed, she told him that the vehicle purchase tax rate had been reduced, and that he was entitled to a 1857 yuan refund. She also mentioned that a letter she sent based on the address provided by Chen had been returned, and requested him to use his mobile phone to dial the Beijing number 010516599..., then press 6013823..., and finally enter the password 1472... to check the balance.
Following the voice prompts given by the caller, Chen later went to an ATM machine of a bank to carry out a transfer, only to have 44,000 yuan "transferred" away by the other party.
"The occurrence of such scams is concentrated between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., Monday through Friday. During this time, the victims are usually alone and not with their families, leaving no opportunity for consultation," explained the investigating officer. The suspects deliberately limit the processing time for "car purchase tax refund" or "house purchase tax refund" procedures to within one day, reducing the time for the car owner to think, thereby increasing the success rate of the crime.
It is reported that the method of committing such crimes is relatively covert and difficult for the victims to detect. The biggest deception lies in the fact that the suspects have obtained the victim's relevant information beforehand and can detail specific information about the victim's vehicle, house, purchase date, address, and ID number during the call, easily gaining the victim's trust.
The area with the highest incidence of "tax refund" scam cases is Chancheng District, with a total of 24 cases, accounting for 63%. Nanhai District has experienced 8 cases, and Shunde District has seen 5 cases.
■ Police Reminder
Citizens should pay more attention to national tax policies. Upon receiving a "tax refund" call, they should promptly contact the police or tax authorities to inquire about related policies and procedures, preventing themselves from being deceived. They should also take care to protect personal data related to car purchases and home purchases, preventing information leakage that could give scammers opportunities. Citizens should grasp the principle of fraud prevention: regardless of what organization or reason, any requests from strangers via mail, phone calls, or text messages asking for transfers, remittances, or account passwords should be ignored, disbelieved, and neither remitted nor transferred.
The police will strengthen communication with tax, telecommunications, and banking departments to increase the publicity of tax policies and regulations regarding car purchase taxes and property taxes, as well as enhance knowledge of taxation. They will collaborate with banking supervision departments to post relevant case examples and preventive promotional posters and slogans on ATM machines, reducing the occurrence of such cases. Since these cases involve cross-regional or even overseas crimes, the police will implement multi-police force joint operations and intensify efforts to combat crimes involving the use of ATMs for fraud.