POLICE in Linyi City of eastern China’s Shandong Province have started a criminal investigation into the case of an 18-year-old student who died after her hard-earned college tuition was swindled over the phone.

    Xu Yuyu, who was just admitted to Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications this year, received a phone call Aug. 19, saying she would receive a scholarship of 2,600 yuan (US$390).

    She followed the caller’s steps to use an ATM, paying 9,900 yuan into an account, and then realized it was a fraud.

    Xu and her mother reported the incident to police the same day, but on the way back home the mother said her daughter lost consciousness and fell from their tricycle. Xu, who was healthy, died Sunday.

    The mother said her daughter was very sad, cried, and kept asking “why someone cheated a family like ours.”

    Xu’s mother is disabled and doesn’t work, while her father works as a migrant worker. It took the family over half a year to save the tuition money.

    Xu’s classmates said they also received similar phone calls asking them to transfer cash.

    Local police said the phone number starting with 171 is from Jinan City, the capital of the province, and that the bank account was based in Guiyang City, capital of Northwest China’s Guizhou Province.

    Police officers said phone fraudsters often use numbers starting with 171 and 170 due to loopholes in real-name registration.

    Another student in Linyi also reported to police that she was cheated out of 6,800 yuan via phone Aug. 19.

    (China News Service)