The Judiciary Police (PJ) urged members of the public to beware of a social media post about “getting a high price for recycling used clothes”, which contained a link to a fraudulent mobile app that harvested personal and credit card information, leading to a local victim’s loss of over 30,000 patacas, according to a statement on Saturday.
The statement noted that the scammer posed as a “customer service staff member” pretending to communicate with customers about the recycling of clothes through social media platforms.
After the victim and the “staff member” agreed on the quantity and price of the recycled clothes, the victim was instructed to download a designated mobile phone app through an unknown source, the statement said.
Afterwards, the victim was asked to register an account on the app, which required the victim to fill in his or her personal information and make a credit card payment for “booking fee” of 10 patacas first.
The statement did not reveal the victim’s age and gender.
However, the victim later discovered that his or her credit card had been used fraudulently, resulting in a loss of more than 30,000 patacas.
Fake redemption website
Meanwhile, the Judiciary Police (PJ) issued a statement on Friday to warn residents of phone message scams where fraudsters send out messages posing as a local telecommunication company’s reward and points platform, claiming that the victims’ reward points will expire soon but that they could collect headphones as gifts, so as to trick victims into logging onto a fake website to obtain their personal information and credit card details.
The statement noted that the fake platform looks very similar to the local telecom operator’s genuine reward points platform, adding that there have been previous cases of similar message scams in Macau, resulting in around 60,000 patacas of losses involving more than 10 residents.
The Judiciary Police said in the statements that one should never click on unidentified links and never enter bank account details, transaction passwords, or credit card details to prevent one’s bank account information or credit card details from being stolen.
Suspected fraud should immediately be reported to the Judiciary Police’s Anti-Fraud Enquiry hotline on 8800 7777 or the crime report hotline at 993 for assistance.
This poster provided by the Judiciary Police (PJ) on Saturday warns members of the public of a social media post about “getting a high price for recycling used clothes”.
