Photo: screenshot of the tweet

 
The General-Consulate of China in Osaka, Japan published on Twitter on Friday a group of comics featuring characters from the globally popular Chinese video game Genshin Impact in order to promote anti-fraud awareness in the wake of rising telecom fraud in the region.

The comics posted to the consulate's official Twitter account, which have both Chinese and Japanese versions, warn Chinese people in Japan to be wary of telecom fraud.

The comics combine images straight from the game and some recent fraud cases. In one comic, the games' main characters, a pair of twins who travel across the stars and visit different worlds, pick up a conch shell (which acts like a telephone) and are summoned to a certain place.

After they arrive, a group of people claiming to be law enforcement accuse them of breaking the law and order them to pay a fine. Not trusting the group, the twins find an excuse to flee and seek out the region's real law enforcers for help. In the end, the swindlers are arrested.

The comics depict one of common methods used in telecom fraud, in which swindlers pretend to be authorities such as the police and tell people they are involved in a crime and need to pay money or report personal information.

The idea to use comics has been hailed by netizens overseas. Related tweets have been liked thousands of times and many Twitter users, including fans of the video game, praised the staff at the consulate for their creative and the adorable comics for being both fun and educational. 

Genshin Impact is an open-world action role-playing game that allows the player to control one of four interchangeable characters in a party. The game had received generally positive reviews, with critics praising the combat and open-world, while others criticize its shallow endgame and monetization model. Released in 2020, the game grossed over $2 billion in its first year.

The cooperation with the video game and the consulate? also stunned Chinese netizens when it was posted on Sina Weibo by some accounts. 

A player of the game based in Beijing, 27, told the Global Times that the comics grabbed her attention at first glance and that she felt that they are a much better method of warning about fraud than some text posts online. 

This is not the first time that the consulate has turned to the power of comics for an information awareness campaign. The consulate launched a series of COVID-19-themed comics in March 2020 on Twitter to introduce the impact the deadly virus has on the human body.

These comic strips were also well-received by netizens, who praised them for turning complex and abstract medical knowledge into a simple and straightforward comic.