Microsoft Teams Used by Scammers in China to Defraud Victims of Millions
Zhao, a 30-something woman living in Beijing, was scammed out of over $100,000 by a romance scammer who claimed to be a Microsoft researcher. The scammer moved their conversation from Xiaohongshu to Microsoft Teams, where he provided Zhao with an account and password she could use.
Zhao trusted Teams because it's developed by Microsoft, but the scammer disappeared with all her money after promising to build a future together and introducing her to a cryptocurrency investment project. She can no longer log into the Teams account he told her to use, making it impossible for her to share the chat logs with police.
After talking about her experience on social media, Zhao heard from dozens of other people in China who have fallen prey to the same scheme, losing anywhere from $1,500 to $300,000. Only one reported recovering some funds by tracking down the recipient's bank account.
The victims all describe the same pattern: being instructed to download Microsoft Teams and log in using credentials provided by the scammers. This tactic has become so common that local law enforcement bureaus in China have issued warnings naming Teams as a tool used by scammers, calling it a 'fraud-related app.'