The Judiciary Police (PJ) warned residents in a statement yesterday about scammers pretending to be local government officials.
According to the statement, the police yesterday received a report from the Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ) about a resident getting a call from a purported official of the bureau. The statement noted that the resident said that a recorded message was played during the call saying that he or she had failed to collect a DSEDJ parcel.
The statement, which did not reveal the resident’s gender, pointed out that he or she found the call suspicious and immediately hung up, adding that the resident also contacted the bureau about the call to verify its validity.
The bureau clarified the incident in a separate statement yesterday. According to the statement, the recording asks residents to collect the parcel and press “1” to confirm they would “sign for it”. The bureau stressed that the call was not from the bureau, urging residents not to fall for the scam.
Meanwhile, the police also said that the Health Bureau (SSM) reported a case of residents receiving scam calls from people pretending to be SSM officials recently. The statement noted that Macau confirmed early this month a family cluster of the COVID-19 Delta variant, and the scammers seized the opportunity by pretending to be calling from the Health Bureau. The statement underlined that few years ago scammers masqueraded as government officials and “caused major damage”.
The statement did not elaborate on what kind of “major damage” the scammers caused at that time.
Therefore, the statement urged residents to stay vigilant.
An SSM statement clarified yesterday that the bureau did not call anyone with recorded messages telling residents that a customs declaration form had not been filled in for the vaccines they bought online. The statement also said that it did not notify residents to pick up documents at the bureau or at the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre. The statement stressed that buying vaccines from online platforms is illegal, adding that the bureau never contacts residents by playing a recorded message.
The police suggested a few ways of how not to fall for scams, such as not giving the caller any personal information, not believing the phone number displayed on the screen as the scammers can buy fake numbers, and not transferring any money to strangers. The police urged residents receiving a suspicious call to contact the police by calling 8800 7777 or 993 for assistance.
