Dong Hui/Shanghai Daily news

Residents have reported more than 500 cell phone recharge card swindles this year, the Shanghai Public Security Bureau said yesterday.

In most cases, victims were tempted by advertisements posted on online shops, Bulletin Board Systems and some Web messengers in which swindlers pretended to be wholesalers selling cell phone recharge cards for 50 percent to 85 percent lower than the normal price, police said.