Preface
This is a true story portraying how Qingdao Jiahe Dadi Technology Trade Co. Ltd. (青岛嘉和大地科贸有限公司, www.zgqdjck.com) – a faux company in China, lure and scam legitimate foreign businesses, from a perspective of a third party.
Part of the names are intentionally replaced to protect the privacy of some parties.
Chronicle VI: The Prestige
[Shattering Hopes]
It was Monday, the day Liu promised to sign the contract after his company’s executive meeting. He called in the morning, saying they will drop by the hotel during afternoon.
Everybody was nervous. Questions like “will they come”, “will they sign”, “what if they don’t come” were continuously popping up in Nacel’s mind.
The family waited until afternoon, and called Liu, to confirm the exact time of the meeting.
This time, Liu said it is before 5PM, and the whole conversation was recorded in Nacel’s iPod.
Nacel and Sister started to compile all the information, photos and other evidence into portable files to prepare them for submission to the police.
At 5PM, Liu and his gang’s contacts were no longer reachable. A final call to the “office” was made and it got through, the woman on the other side of the line said Liu has left the office, while the other two key persons were still around.
When pressed on why the people couldn’t be contacted, the woman contradicted and said everybody left the office. Sister trapped the woman who answered the call to admit the company’s address is indeed No. 7, Changsha Road.
The entire conversation was recorded.
The very last glimpse of hope was shattered. It was time to report to the police.
[Kicked Around]
The entire family went to Changsha Road once more, and called 112. In less than 10 minutes, a 4WD police vehicle arrived at the scene.
The officer whom stepped out of the car looked like a veteran in his sixties, he and Dad exchanged conversations and roughly knowing the situation.
While the conversation was ongoing, there was a man, probably in his twenties, tried to snap the photo of the family with the officer using his mobile phone.
“What do you think you’re doing?” the officer immediately turned towards the man.
“I was just playing…” the man replied, panicked.
“What is that? What do you think you’re doing?” the officer repeated, and snatched the phone from the man.
“Get in the car!” a grab on the neck, the man is hustled the man into the back of the police vehicle.
“Is he some kind of spy?” Sister asked Nacel.
“Maybe. I don’t know.”
“That’s some kick-ass officer,” Nacel thought.
The family then followed the officer back to the local police station.
At the police station, Dad made a report and explained what happened to the officers on duty. However, the officer has decided that the incident was outside their area of jurisdiction, and should be reported to the local police station near the hotel instead.
It was late evening, the family rushed back to the other police station, luckily the driver was kind and helpful throughout the journey. This time, the police station was packed with people.
As the family walked into the office, a girl asked Sister if she is a reporter, seeing Nacel was carrying a not-so-portable camera around.
Apparently, there were too many cases and too little manpower during that time, the family waited for more than half an hour just to get their turn to report.
There where a few officers questioning Dad, while walking around, and going in and out of the room, before one of the officers finally settled down.
The officer, probably in his forties, was not in a good mood. After listening for a while, he decided the case was out of their jurisdiction, and should be reported to the local police station near MYKAL instead.
Not only after a session of debate and a call with the local HQ, the officer agreed to take on the case, but advised the family to make a report at 8AM the next morning.
“I guess there are scammers in your country too as well?”
Tired, the family headed back to the hotel. The driver only surcharged 10 RMB, even after following the family through all the troubles – has earned himself respect among Nacel’s family members.
The entire journey in Qingdao was very rough and tiring – from flight delays, to simple scammer cabs, to well-planned business scammers, on top of that, getting referred around to different police stations. These incidents had left a deep scar in the whole family, especially Nacel’s Dad, whom had lost a large sum of money during the course of this incident.
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