A female university student from the mainland studying in Macau was defrauded out of over 3.03 million yuan (3.59 million patacas) in a phone scam by fraudsters who claimed to be from the mainland’s police authorities, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chong Kam Leong said in a press conference yesterday.
According to Chong, the police received a report on Saturday from a university student saying that her roommate, an 18-year-old freshman, had fallen victim to a scam. The police then went to their flat in Taipa to investigate.
The victim told the police that she received a call from a “courier company staff member” on March 30 saying that prohibited items had been found in a package she sent from Macau to Shanghai. The call was then supposedly transferred to the “Shanghai Public Security Bureau”, where the scammers claimed that the victim was suspected of money laundering and required her to conduct an “asset review.”
The victim then transferred different amounts of money 26 times to 26 different bank accounts in the mainland, totalling 3.03 million yuan, earlier this month. After learning about the incident, her roommate warned the victim that it might be a scam, but the victim instead trusted the “police officer” until PJ officers told her that she had been cheated.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chong Kam Leong looks on during yesterday’s regular press conference.
– Photo: William Chan
