A university student from the mainland lost 197,000 yuan (230,000 patacas) on an “e-commerce platform” after the “customer service staff” of the website asked her to “upgrade” her account three times, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chong Kam Leong said at a regular press conference on Monday.
According to Chong, the student recently attempted to sell an online game account on a popular e-commerce platform and was soon contacted by a buyer claiming that he or she could buy the account for 19,500 yuan on the condition that they trade the account on another platform chosen by the buyer.
The student trusted the buyer and registered an account on the new “e-commerce website”, Chong said, adding that the website showed that the “transaction” was successful and the money was deposited into her new website account.
According to Chong, when the student attempted to withdraw the cash, the “customer service staff” of the website told her that her account had been frozen and that she needed to “upgrade” her account by depositing more into the website’s account.
After the first deposit, the victim was informed twice that she had to deposit more money before she could withdraw anything, Chong said, adding that the student followed the instructions and deposited 78,000 yuan and 80,000 respectively, but still could not withdraw the money from the account.
The victim finally realised that she might have been scammed and reported the case to the police last Saturday, saying that she lost 197,000 yuan in the scam.
