My brush with a scam, thanks to 'Section Chief Liu'

When the phone rang at 9 am, I had no clue of the series of events that would follow. I heard a recorded message: "You have a summons issued by the Huzhou City Intermediary People's Court relayed by the Shanghai Municipal Intermediary People's Court. Press nine to learn the details."

I'd never been summoned by a court and the message gave me goose bumps. I pressed nine and heard a man speaking in a dialect typical of southern Fujian province. He said he was an official of the court in Huzhou (which I later realized is a city in northern Zhejiang province) and told me that I had opened an account at a bank there on Feb 16.

He added that I had two overdrafts, and the court had issued a summons to the address mentioned on my temporary residence card. But the summons had been returned. "The court session will begin at 4 pm today. You must be here," he said.