A middle-aged local woman has fallen victim to an online investment scam, losing 1.3 million patacas, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chong Kam Leong said during a regular press conference yesterday.
According to Chong, the woman befriended online a man who claimed to be a “mainland soldier” on a social media platform last year. In late-September, the man introduced her to an investment website, promising easy profits and offering to teach her how to invest.
After being persuaded, the victim visited the website. Following the instructions, she made two separate deposits, totalling 900,000 patacas, in two different banks. Afterwards, her account showed a profit of 3 million patacas.
Chong noted that when the victim attempted to withdraw the funds, she was informed that she needed to pay HK$400,000 (409,000 patacas) as “deposit” and “tax” before being able to get her money, therefore she paid the additional HK$400,000.
However, the victim was still unable to retrieve her funds. After discussing the matter with friends and family, she realised she had been scammed and reported a total loss of 1.3 million patacas to the police on Tuesday.
