The Judiciary Police (PJ) said in a statement yesterday that more than a dozen members of the public fell victim to a phishing scam, incurring a total loss of about 130,000 patacas.
The statement pointed out that the victims reported their cases to the police separately this month, pointing out that they had received a text message from a bogus “local telecommunications company”, asking them to log into a fake website which needed to obtain their personal and credit card information on the grounds that “they should redeem their points for gifts as soon as possible”.
The statement underlined that the police have meanwhile contacted the genuine telecommunications operator, requesting it to block and remove the phishing website involved in the case from the browser, so as to prevent more members of the public from being cheated by clicking on the website.
As the fake website is very similar to the official one, the police urged the public never to click on any link to an unidentified website or provide their personal information, underlining that whenever they are asked to provide their credit card information, account transaction password and transaction verification code, they must always remain extra cautious to prevent the theft of their bank account or credit card details.
The statement urged the public to call the police on 8800 7777 or 993 if they suspect that they have fallen victim to a scam.
This poster provided by the Judiciary Police yesterday warns the public about the phishing SMS scam by a bogus “local telecommunications operator”.
