Putting money in the bank is supposed to be safe and secure. But in China, that security is not guaranteed. A dozen people who kept their money at a bank in Shandong Province—their deposits totaling 160 million yuan (about $24.8 million)—discovered that their savings had disappeared into thin air.
One of the victims, Fu Ling (pseudonym), explained that she initially received a call from a trusted agent in October 2014, telling her that the Bincheng District branch of the Rural Credit Cooperative of Shandong, a farmer’s bank in Shandong Province located in eastern China, was offering a “sunshine certificate deposit,” according to a June 15 report by state-run media The Paper that has revealed the details of a scam dating back to 2015.
