The Pharmaceutical Supervision and Administration Bureau (ISAF) said in a statement on Friday that in response to some residents reporting that they had received calls from ISAF officials, claiming that it intercepted their packages containing “prohibited” items, banned the receivers from entering and exiting the city, and requested payment for bank transfers, the bureau urged members of the public to stay vigilant and beware of such calls.
The statement underlined that the bureau has never notified residents by phone about the interception of packages containing contraband or about restricting residents entry or exit, and neither would it ever ask residents to provide their bank account details or transfer money.
If residents suspect having received a fraudulent call, the statement said, they can refer to the three-point prevention measures by the Judiciary Police of “rejecting any requests for their bank account password, verification codes, transfers, fund review, security accounts, downloading unknown mobile phone applications, or enabling the same screen function”, “hanging up after receiving an unknown number’s call asking for personal information, or requesting cooperation with purported government officials” and “by calling 8800 7777 or 993”.
Enquiries can be made by calling 8598 35222 during office hours, or 8598 3504 for a 24/7 telephone recording.