On 1/12/2010, I went to meet three middle-high school classmates, two of them still working and one in retirement. I learned some kind of scam going on targeting senior citizens in China. The scam goes like this.

Some illegal people calls your home, confirming your name and bank account number, informing you that certain criminal group has crept into your bank account and intend to withdraw all your money. You should immediately transfer your money to another account, which is given to you over the phone. The key to the safety of your money is total confidentiality, not a word is uttered to anyone else, even to your spouse or children. As soon as your transfer is complete, the swindler takes away all but a few cents from your account. A friend of my classmate was thus swindled, with damage totalling half a million yuan or nearly 76,000 US dollar, the sum of her lifetime savings.

I related the detail to my mother, hoping she would be well informed. It turned out she already knew it and much more. Next she opened my eyes to more scams implemented here. Alas, I feel so out of touch with the reality in the land of my birth. I might be too ignorant or inexperienced or having lived in a very restricted and limited quarter. Anyway, I must admit that China has changed way deeper than I am prepared.