The Monetary Authority of Macau (AMCM) announced yesterday that it is investigating a situation where a user of the payment platform MPay was unexpectedly charged bus fares in the early hours of yesterday although, the user had not caught a bus.
This statement was released following a user’s complaint on social media. In the statement, AMCM has demanded a thorough investigation by the MPay provider and a detailed report on the matter.
The user shared screenshots of his or her MPay account yesterday on a social media platform showing multiple deductions – over 70 transactions – during the early hours of yesterday. Upon contacting the MPay customer service, the user was informed that these deductions were for outstanding bus fares from 2021, and the company said that a system upgrade at the time had delayed the processing of these payments, resulting in the recent additional deductions.
AMCM has conducted a preliminary investigation and concluded that the incident did not involve account theft or any cybersecurity vulnerabilities, the statement said, adding that the bureau emphasised that the overall system run by MPay remains secure and operational.
The statement also underlined that the core issue appears to be related to the payment process for bus fares, where transactions that were not successfully processed at the time of the trip were only later deducted.
In response to the incident, AMCM has instructed MPay to promptly reach out to affected users to clarify the situation and improve the payment mechanism to minimise the impact on customers.
