A female student from the mainland who is studying for a postgraduate degree at a local university was cheated out of 50,000 yuan (61,180 patacas) in a phone scam on Saturday, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lai Chio Hong said during a regular press conference on Monday.
According to Lai, the victim, who is in her twenties, reported to the police on Sunday that she received a call on her smartphone on Saturday from a person who claimed to be an employee of an “online payment app”. The “employee” told the victim her payment account number, telephone number as well as her personal data, saying that there was a problem with her “student account” payment app account. He also told the victim that her student account needed to be “converted” into a new account particularly her loan account according to new regulations, otherwise all chat accounts linked to her payment account would be frozen.
Lai said the scammer also claimed that there was a problem with the victim’s payment account and she needed to cancel her personal loan account. The victim then borrowed 50,000 yuan online which was deposited into her account, and she then transferred the money to a designated bank account in the mainland provided by the scammer so that she could cancel her loan account.
However, after the transfer, the scammer kept asking her to apply for more loans and then transfer the money in the same way.
The victim finally grew suspicious and after discussing the incident with her family, she decided to go to a police station on Sunday to report the case.
No one had been arrested at the time of the press conference, according to Lai.
