Do you ever get those annoying messages on your phone? Me and friends of mine who are also British Chinese have been plagued by them for years.

Some of them, like this one.

Nijao, Yinghui- you need to contact UK visas and immigration.

Say I need to contact UK immigration.

There's a problem with my visa or maybe there's an issue with a parcel I'm supposed to have sent.

There's clearly some sort of scam and a pretty basic one at that,

so we just ignore them.

But now, Chinese-speaking people around the world

are being targeted in ways which take things to a terrifying new level.

And if you take the bait, you can find your world turned upside down.

These victims and their families have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Scammers who go to extreme lengths to convince you that they're the police.

So he gave you a tour of what looked like a Chinese police station?

Yes, it looks very real to me.

And who will trick you into thinking that you're a wanted fugitive?

I'm fighting for my life.

If I go back to China, I may never come back.

Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service.

I'm Elaine Chong from BBC Trending,

and in the first part of a special two- episode investigation, I'm looking into the rise of the fake Chinese police.

My mum's got this friend called Helen. They met at Scottish country dancing. Helen was born in China but for the past

first years she's been living in Britain. She works as an accountant. Helen knows I'm a journalist and one day recently she got in touch.

...