The Judiciary Police (PJ) received last week a report from a non-local man who suspected that he was the victim of an online loan scam, reporting a loss of about 160,000 yuan, PJ spokesman Lei Chi Hou said yesterday.
Lei said during a regular press conference that the middle-aged victim received a “friend” request from an unknown person on WeChat on March 20, claiming that his loan application of 10,000 yuan had been approved.
Lei quoted the victim as saying that as the victim had filled in loan applications on multiple online platforms, he believed the approval to be true and signed a loan contract of 10,000 yuan with the “friend”.
According to Lei, the victim was then requested by the “friend” to pay a security deposit due to his “insufficient” credit history.
Lei added that the victim transferred a total of 154,800 yuan (about 174,000 patacas) to the “friend’s” various mainland bank accounts on more than 40 occasions.
As he was still unable to obtain the loan and refund the security deposit from the “friend”, the victim finally realised that he had been cheated, so he reported the case to the Judiciary Police last Friday, Lei noted.
