Beware of SCAMs in China
I guess I could have made the following reports in the "Living in China" thread but the incidents that I am reporting did happen in CP and Guangzhou respectively and with all the brothers coming to CP and Guangzhou, I hope that you will be extra careful when encoutering the following situations:

CP Incident 1:

My driver XC told me to avoid riding in the "bread" cars if you are not familiar with the driver. There are quite a many of them cruising around CP picking up customers and in most part they are safe but never get into one alone if you don't know the driver. The scams that are being reported is that when a lone passenger rides in one of these vehicles, the driver is in communication with his accomplices and when he stops at a traffic light or he takes the passenger through dark secluded alleys, his accomplices (upwards of two guys or more) would board the vehicle and kidnap the passenger. The passenger's personal belongings (money, jewelry, watch) would be taken as well as his things in his hotel room and safe. Additionally, they will withdraw money from his ATM and / or credit cards. They will beat the victim until he gives up all his information and have taken the maximum amount of money before letting him go. One case reported that the victim lost over 50K RMB and was in the hospital for a few days for his injuries.

CP Incident 2:

One of the Hui Mei mommy told me the other day that a patron at the Hui Mei hotel was robbed and beaten inside the hotel by accomplices of a WG working in a fake BBS in the Hui Mei area. The patron came from Malaysia and was mongering in CP alone. He apparently went to a shop that was just a front for unsuspecting / uninformed customers. When he was showering, the girl let 4 guys with weapons (pipes and knives) into the room to rob the guy and threaten to beat him up if he didn't open the safe and give up his PIN number (s) to his ATM / credit card (s). Since the guy did not want to be beaten up, he willingly gave up all his information and the assailants got away with over 40K RMB. The victim was tied and gagged but was able to make enough noise after the assailants left to be released by hotel security. This victim has been to CP many times and speaks fluent Putonghua but he was unlucky that he went to a fake BBS and to be honest if you are not familiar with the regular BBSs in town and just plain unlucky, you could be a victim of the same circumstance.

CP incident 3.

One of my customer was walking back to the hotel with 6 of his friends with WGs in tow after partying at the Mayflower and suddenly a guy ran up behind him and snatch a gold chain from his neck. It happened so fast my customer didn't know what hit him. The guy ran up to a motorcycle and sped away. These kind of things happen to WGs all the time where you hear that their purse, jewelry, and phone get snatched right out of hand and even gets robbed at knife point but these kind of things do happens to guys as well. The best thing to do when you are in CP is not to have too much on you. I don't wear a watch or have any jewelry of any kind. With the advice of SEAJ, I have a seamstress in town to put zippers in the front of my pant pockets where I keep my phone and wallet. There is no need bringing your passport while you are out of your hotel room, at most, just make a copy to bring along in case you need it. No need bringing your credit cards or atm cards with you if you don't intend to make any big purchases. Just bring cash and your phone and keep it in your front pockets. Be low key and don't flash your cash around and you should be fine.

Guangzhou incident.

The following incident happened yesterday to another customer of mine while he was en route to CP from Guangzhou. He and 3 other people were getting into a cab with their belongings (clothes, computers, cash, and their travel documents) and was taken away by the taxi driver. Apparently it was a fake taxi and there are many of them in China and it is hard to tell if the vehicles are real or fake if you are not familiar with them. They spend the whole day at the police station and the incident happend right next to the police station where they had cameras but even after reviewing the tapes, the police were not able to find the vehicle. Now, all four of them has to deal with the hassle of getting their documents reissue and for those that has never done that while traveling don't know what kind of hassle you need to endure to get things back in order. I can recall many times that I have put luggage or shopping bags in the trunk of a taxi and it would have been very easy for the driver to take off while I exit the vehicle to retrieve my belongings. Please be extra careful while encountering this situation in the future. It is best that you ask the driver to assist you with your bags so that he is outside the vehicle the same time you are so that you can avoid this situation in the future.

China is full of scams and even to the seasoned travelers coming here to work or play, please be extra careful. Don't go anywhere you are not familiar with and never tell people that you are traveling alone.

Stay safe!

BSD