The Judiciary Police (PJ) warned the public in a statement yesterday that scammers have been calling customers of the financial mobile app “Alipay”, pretending to be “customer service representatives” to obtain victims’ information that could be used for unauthorised transactions.
The statement pointed out that at least 36 locals have reported via the Judiciary Police anti-fraud programme and anti-fraud hotline that they received phone calls from “customer service representatives from Alipay”. They told the police that the “representatives” said that “your fund protection plan is about to expire and if you don’t cancel it, you will be charged a high amount”. Afterwards, the fraudsters pretend to be “customer service” representatives from other financial institutes, offering to assist with cancelling the respective insurance procedures as a pretext to defraud the victims.
The statement noted that the 36 locals were aware of the anti-fraud warnings by the Judiciary Police, and therefore did not suffer any property loss.
According to the statement, however, there were still four victims who fell for the scam on Sunday. They called the scammer via video call, leading to the theft of their credit card and bank account information, with a total loss of 270,000 patacas.
The statement said that citizens should note the following instructions.
1. If you receive a call from someone claiming to be from “Alipay”, “WeChat” or any other financial institute, and claims that “if you do not renew the insurance, a high amount will be charged”, please immediately hang up.
2. If you receive a call from someone who asks for a “video call”, “share screen”, “money transaction”, and asks for personal information, bank and credit card details, please hang up immediately.
3. If you receive a call and are sent a link to an unofficial website and are told to click on the unknown link, whatever the reason is, immediately hang up.
The statement pointed out that if you have doubts, use the police forces’ “anti-fraud programme” to check the risk assessment and report any suspicious messages, or call the anti-fraud hotline on 8800 7777 or the reporting hotline on 993 for assistance.
This poster released by the Judiciary Police (PJ) yesterday warns residents of a “Alipay” telecom scams.
