CHICAGO, April 10 (Xinhua) -- A lawyer in Chicago has warned that overseas Chinese students should maintain high vigilance against foreign currency exchange scams on WeChat, local media reported on Wednesday.
A Chinese student, who is studying at the Loyola University Chicago, claimed that he was swindled out of hundreds of U.S. dollars by a fraudster who pretended to be his schoolmate in a group chat on WeChat and lied that he was in urgent need of money.
The student said the fraudster asked him to transfer Chinese currency to his Chinese bank accounts, and promised to return equivalent U.S. dollars at a certain exchange rate. He disappeared immediately after receiving the money.
Several other Chinese students in Chicago claimed that they had encountered similar foreign currency exchange scams and suffered heavy financial losses.
"Overseas Chinese students should stay alert to this type of scams and not believe in strangers easily," said Yan Zong, associate attorney at the Evans International Law Firms LLC., adding that as U.S. laws impose heavy penalty on private foreign currency exchange, improper behavior in this regard may even lead to the charge of money laundering.
