Camy Tam
A female non-resident worker reported to the Judiciary Police last week that she had been cheated out of 81,000 yuan (100,800 patacas) in an online loan scam, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Leng Kam Lon said at a press conference this week.
According to Leng, the victim, who is in her forties, reported to the police last Saturday that had she received an SMS the previous day with a phone number starting with two zeros that promoted online loans. She downloaded a link and transferred 1,000 yuan as “handling fee” to open an account. She completed her application to borrow 50,000 yuan but the loan was not approved. The victim contacted the app’s purported “customer service staff” who told her that there were “input errors” in her application which required her to pay 30,000 yuan for verification. The victim transferred 15,000 yuan in two remittances to two accounts in the mainland.
Leng said as the loan still hadn’t been approved and the victim contacted the “customer service staff” who said that her “credit score” was insufficient and she was required to pay an additional 50,000 yuan as “guarantee” and that the money would be returned to her after the loan’s approval. After the victim transferred the money, she was told again that there were “input errors” and told her to transfer another 50,000 yuan. The victim finally suspected that she had been cheated and reported the case to the police. The Judiciary Police are following up on the case. No one had been arrested at the time of the press conference.
