The Judiciary Police (PJ) urged members of the public in a statement yesterday to be wary of fake government department scams, noting that various residents have recently filed reports with the PJ about having received calls from purported mainland or Macau government officials.
Although many “swiftly” saw through the scams due to the crime prevention information they had received from the Judiciary Police, a few still fell for them, the statement noted.
According to the statement, the fraudsters usually impersonate “officers” from the mainland’s Public Security Bureau (PSB), Cyber Security Centre, Cyber Crime Centre, WeChat Security, Macau Post and Telecommunications Bureau (CTT), or Judiciary Police Cyber Security Division and Anti-spam Centre, among others.
The “officers” demand that the victims provide personal information including their name and ID number, and are then accused of “having distributed illegal information”, requiring them to log into a specific website and enter personal information, bank account details, passwords, and verification codes, the statement said.
The scammer then takes control of the bank account, transferring all of the money out of it, the statement underlined.
Members of the public are advised to be “alert and [to] never readily trust people” who call claiming that they are government department representatives. They must also avoid clicking unknown links, and hang up when they are asked to submit personal or bank information or simply reject the demand.
The statement pointed out that one should contact the Judiciary Police’s Anti-scam hotline on 88007777 or the crime report hotline on 993 if one gets suspicious calls or has been defrauded, regardless of whether they have suffered losses.
This poster provided by the Judiciary Police (PJ) yesterday urges members of the public to remain vigilant against fake government department scams.
