A total of 11 victims, comprising nine local residents and two non-resident workers (NRWs), recently reported separately to the police that they suspected to have been defrauded in a click farm scam, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chan Wun Man said during a regular press briefing yesterday.
Chan stressed that the total loss of the 11 victims was over 1.2 million patacas, adding that two of the victims who lost the most were cheated out of 330,000 yuan and 331,790 patacas respectively. Chan added that the victims are aged between 18 and 46, involving three men and eight women. Chan noted that the cases were reported between last Wednesday and this Tuesday.
According to Chan, most of the victims were cheated in a similar way. Chan said that the victims were attracted by a “part-time job” advertisement on various social media. They contacted the “customer service” to apply for the part-time job. After that, Chan said, the victims were told to click on designated links to purchase certain items, but had to transfer a “deposit” to the “customer service’s” bank account.
Chan added that the victims had their “deposits” refunded and were able to earn commission in the beginning. Chan said that later the “customer service” continued to persuade the victims to increase the purchase amounts in order to earn more commissions.
However, Chan pointed out, when the victims asked for a refund, the “customer service” refused to give it to them by using various excuses, such as “operation error” and “operation timeout”. Eventually the victims lost contact with the “customer service”, Chan stated.
Chan said all the cases are still under investigation and no one had been arrested at the time of the press conference.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chan Wun Man addresses yesterday’s regular press conference. Photo: Victor Lam
