Distrust unsolicited instructions, protect your information, avoid unfamiliar links, and verify transfers
Pause and verify before following any instruction involving money or account access. Common patterns include paid “order tasks,” fake investments, fraudulent loans, fake customer service, police or court impersonation, romance-investment scams, and sexual lures linked to paid tasks. They typically move toward asking you to send money first. Recognizing them early is cheaper than trying to recover funds later.
What it takes
Free. Learn the seven common patterns below, consider the National Anti-Fraud Center app, and respond to genuine 96110 warnings. If a caller asks you to transfer money, share your screen, download an unfamiliar app, open a link, or reveal a verification code, hang up and verify through an independently obtained official number. Resisting artificial urgency is the difficult part.
What you may gain
China’s anti-fraud law requires public education about scam methods and a joint warning system involving police, finance, telecommunications, and internet regulators. The 96110 line supports that intervention. Fujian police describe seven patterns. Paid order tasks promise commissions but withhold the original stake unless more tasks are completed. Fake investment groups use planted participants showing profits, small initial payouts, pressure to invest more, and demands for “tax” before withdrawal. Fraudulent loan offers demand a deposit or transfers to manufacture bank-account activity. Fake customer service claims that a membership will renew, charge fees, or harm your credit unless you transfer money to cancel it. Police, prosecutor, or court impersonators invoke a “safe account” or conduct supposed investigations through calls and chat apps. Romance scammers rely on a relationship with someone you have never met, perhaps known only through photos or video, followed by repeated urgent requests for money and avoidance of real meetings. Sexual lures require completing paid tasks before a promised meeting, with escalating payments. The best time to intervene is before money leaves your account. If it already has, see emergency reporting and payment stops; recovery depends on whether the funds are still accessible.
Context & considerations
Supposed police, customer-service staff, managers, or platform risk-control teams may use different stories—investigation, membership cancellation, task rebates, or inside investment information—but the payment pressure is similar. Remember that a genuine loan does not require a preliminary “guarantee deposit” to the caller, and police and courts do not use “safe accounts” for your transfers. Grade B reflects official prevention guidance without a measured estimate of how much learning it reduces victimization. The Ministry of Public Security site was unavailable during the original verification, so the advice and examples come from provincial police pages. Nationally published frequencies and proportions for the common scam types remain unverified in the original.
Research & references
Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (2022). Anti-Telecom and Online Fraud Law, Articles 8, 20, and 34. https://www.spp.gov.cn/spp/fl/202209/t20220902_575631.shtml; Fujian Public Security Department (2023). Answer calls from 96110, including its four-part prevention advice and warning about scam calls beginning with 192. http://gat.fujian.gov.cn/ztzl/fjjffpzxrx/spjq/202303/t20230306_6126156.htm; Fujian Public Security Department (2023–2024). Scam-identification series: order tasks http://gat.fujian.gov.cn/ztzl/fjjffpzxrx/spjq/202307/t20230703_6196881.htm; investments http://gat.fujian.gov.cn/ztzl/fjjffpzxrx/spjq/202312/t20231220_6362145.htm; loans http://gat.fujian.gov.cn/ztzl/fjjffpzxrx/spjq/202312/t20231207_6326741.htm; customer-service impersonation http://gat.fujian.gov.cn/ztzl/fjjffpzxrx/spjq/202310/t20231020_6279505.htm; police and court impersonation http://gat.fujian.gov.cn/ztzl/fjjffpzxrx/spjq/202309/t20230913_6255863.htm; romance scams http://gat.fujian.gov.cn/ztzl/fjjffpzxrx/spjq/202308/t20230818_6232030.htm; sexual lures and paid tasks http://gat.fujian.gov.cn/ztzl/fjjffpzxrx/spjq/202403/t20240307_6410612.htm.