doctor_slump 2008-7-14 06:00 PM
China police warn citizens to beware Olympic scams
Police in northern China have warned of a series of Olympic-related scams, from people offering mobile phones capable of receiving Games coverage, to others dressing up as officials on fund-raising missions.
The scams were "becoming more numerous and diverse by the day", public security officials in northern Shanxi province said in comments published in local media on Monday.
Apart from run-of-the-mill confidence tricks from people selling pirated Olympic coins, gold bricks and other merchandise, police had heard reports of offers to arrange "Olympic securities and funds" through back-door connections, the Beijing News said, citing the Shanxi Public Security Bureau.
One imaginative scheme, in a list of nine of the most commonly reported stings, involved a scam to sell Olympic medals supposedly missing after a warehouse blaze, and in exchange the buyers could turn them into the government for "a high price".
Another sought to extract fees from people who had been selected to receive "special training" to act as journalists during the sporting event, the paper said.
Beijing has tried in vain to stamp out Olympic scams ranging from bogus websites offering Games tickets and other swindles awarding "Olympic prizes" sent by text message to mobile phones.
Authorities in November jailed a man for three years for pretending to be an Olympic official and taking 50,000 yuan from a woman he had promised opening ceremony tickets.
The Olympics open in Beijing on August 8.