Judiciary Police (PJ) spokeswoman Lei Hon Nei said at a press conference yesterday that the police received separate reports from 14 local residents saying that their credit card information was stolen when clicking onto phishing links last week.
According to Lei, four victims received messages from purported local banks, while the remainder received them from purported telecom companies, claiming that their loyalty points were close to expiration. The messages urged the victims to click on embedded links to claim their “gifts”.
The victims provided their credit card information as requested. However, they later discovered that unauthorised deductions had been made from their bank accounts, ranging from 5,400 to 43,000 patacas. The 14 victims lost a total of 440,000 patacas.
Furthermore, six victims reported to the police that their credit card details had been recently compromised, leading to unauthorised charges and a total loss of 30,800 patacas.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokeswoman Lei Hon Nei looks on during yesterday’s press conference. – Photo: William Chan
