The safety of a Chinese international student has affected many parties recently.
The missing student Shi Moumou graduated from the Chemistry Department of Tsinghua University in 2026 and went to the UK to study for a postgraduate degree at University College London (UCL) in September this year. Family members said that on October 31, Shi had a video call with his family members and had a birthday cake, and "everything was normal."
No one expected that a trap that was approaching step by step had already quietly unfolded.
It is reported that the scam started around October 20. When a fraudulent call came, the other party accurately grasped his passport, school and other personal information, pretended to be the British Immigration Service, lied that his visa was involved in the case, threatened to cancel his student status, forced deportation, and issued a "confidential injunction" and required a deposit of 70,000 pounds as a so-called "verification deposit."
Then Shi started transferring money to strange accounts in batches, and the scammer simultaneously induced him to leave the UK and go to Cambodia to cooperate with the so-called "investigation."
At 5:30 pm on November 1, Beijing time, domestic police came to the door and said that Shi had suffered a telecommunications fraud, and told his family that Shi had transferred more than 400,000 yuan since October 25. After the police came to the door, Shi made a video call with his family members. After 5 minutes, Shi closed the video and could not be contacted since then. He tried twice to buy a ticket to Cambodia but was unsuccessful.
In addition, family members said that after they could not contact Shi Moumou on November 1, they logged into his mailbox. Five minutes after logging in, the inbox of his mailbox was emptied. At around 4 pm on November 2, Shi Moumou sent an email to his family, saying, "I am safe and I was defrauded. I am very sorry for you. I want to be alone for a while."
When the news came out, online comments were full of scorn, saying, "Even if he is from Tsinghua University, he is only highly educated and has low awareness."
In fact, there is no need to rush to ridicule. Professional knowledge and risk screening are two completely independent capability systems. It is truly deplorable for a student who can conquer complex topics in the laboratory to fail to maintain rational judgment under sudden intimidation and pressure.
But what really deserves everyone’s scrutiny is the horrifyingly sophisticated design of this fraud script. This type of deception targets international students, pretending to be an immigration department, and using their public status to create a deterrent; it seizes on visa issues and addresses the core concerns of overseas students; it throws out "confidential bans" to directly cut off their channels for seeking verification and help from relatives and friends; and deceiving cross-border transfers separates them from their familiar environment and support network.
The four rings bite and tighten step by step, constantly compressing the victim's thinking space until his thinking is wrapped up in a single narrative of "cooperating with the investigation." Anyone should be extremely alert to resist such a precise mental hunting.
A deeper question is why this scam was not exposed until more than 400,000 yuan of funds were lost and the parties lost contact. At present, many anti-fraud defense lines focus more on the interception of funds. Although the police came to intervene this time, they still failed to wake up a victim who had been deeply immersed in the brainwashing narrative in time.
It is not difficult to see from this that there are still shortcomings in this type of risk education that should be taken forward. Many families studying abroad focus on language tests, application materials, and college rankings, but neglect to inform their children that the Chinese Embassy and Consulate in the UK has issued anti-fraud warnings many times.
The entry-exit period for new students from September to October every year is the window where telecommunications fraud is most common. A common sense is that foreign immigration bureaus, local police, and Chinese embassies and consulates abroad will never handle cases remotely over the phone, require transfers for capital verification, let alone require students to hide their family members or leave the country alone to cooperate with investigations.
Fortunately, the latest news came on November 4. The child has returned home safely, which is a blessing among misfortunes. However, the lost 450,000 yuan is difficult to recover, and this fraud script will not disappear. It is still lurking, waiting for the opportunity to target the next international student who has just landed overseas and is full of longing.
We urgently need to make up for this long-missing safety lesson. In addition to admission notices and air tickets, international students’ bags when traveling overseas must carry a clear understanding: Be extra vigilant about any “official calls” that ask for a deposit, require confidentiality, or induce cross-border transfers.
