Sixteen locals and a mainlander have fallen victim to scam calls impersonating customer service representatives from “Taobao”, resulting in a total loss of 3.4 million patacas, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chao Teng Hin said during a regular press conference yesterday.
Chao said that the victims, aged between 18 and 70, comprise 10 female and six male local residents, along with a female mainlander.
According to Chao, the police received 17 separate reports from the victims between Friday and Sunday. Chao said that the victims had received calls from Thursday to Saturday from individuals impersonating “Taobao” customer service representatives. The scammers falsely claimed that the victims’ “funds security insurance” had expired and then transferred the calls to another “customer service agent”, purportedly to assist them with cancellation procedures.
During these calls, the victims were instructed to click on specific website links while providing their bank accounts and personal information. The fraudsters then used the pretext of “verifying whether the account belonged to the victim” to request screen sharing during transactions. Some victims were even asked to take screenshots of transaction details and send them to the scammers.
Ultimately, all victims experienced unauthorised transfers and spending activities of varying amounts in their bank accounts and credit cards. Among them, an elderly local woman suffered the largest loss, totalling 1.3 million patacas, while the smallest individual loss was 3,000 patacas. Suspecting they had been scammed, finally they reported the cases to the police between Friday and Sunday.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chao Teng Hin looks on during yesterday’s regular press conference. – Photo: Ada Lei
