A local woman was defrauded out of about HK$130,000 in a fake police scam earlier this week, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Cheong Un Hong said during a regular press conference yesterday.
According to Cheong, the woman received a phone call on Monday from a person claiming to be a “Wuhan police officer”, who told the victim that her mainland phone number was sending out numerous scam messages.
Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, lies about 1,000 kilometres north of Macau.
The “officer” demanded that the victim download a video call app used for questioning and stay in a hotel room for a “covert investigation”, Cheong said.
As the officer was able to correctly mention the victim’s Home Return Permit card number (Macau residents’ travel documents to the mainland), her mainland phone number, and other personal information, Cheong said, she complied with the officer’s requirements.
During her stay in the hotel room, Cheong said, the officer told the victim to provide her bank account information and password and also to switch on her smartphone’s screen mirroring function, enabling the officer to directly operate the victim’s smartphone and her online bank account.
According to Cheong, the victim received a phone call from her bank on Wednesday telling her that abnormal transactions had been made on her account, after which she found that HK$131,100 had been transferred to a bank account in Hong Kong.
The victim then realised that she had been defrauded and reported the case to the police.
No one had been arrested in connection with the case at the time of yesterday afternoon’s press conference.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Cheong Un Hong looks on during yesterday’s regular press conference. – Photo: Tony Wong
