A young local woman has fallen victim to an online scam, losing a total of 58,000 patacas, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Leng Kam Lon said during a regular press conference yesterday.
According to Leng, the police received a report on Saturday from the woman, saying that she had met a man online through a dating app on June 1. They communicated via voice and text messages thereafter. On June 2, the man contacted her through WeChat, claiming to have an audio equipment business. He told her that he urgently needed to pay a “client” but had an “insufficient bank transfer limit”, asking her for assistance and promising to repay the money through a mainland bank account.
After she agreed, he sent her a bogus screenshot showing a “successful transfer of 28,000 yuan to her mainland account” and requested that she transfer 28,000 patacas to a specified local account. After she transferred the money, he asked for additional transfers of 25,000 patacas and 5,000 patacas, claiming that he had “insufficient funds” while providing two more forged screenshots.
By the afternoon of June 3, when the woman checked her mainland account, she discovered that the funds had not been received. The man claimed that “cross-bank transfers have been delayed.” Later, she discovered a similar scam case on RedNote (小红书; aka Little Red Book) that matched her situation exactly, including the same screenshot, transfer number and receipt number. Realising she had been scammed, she reported a total loss of 58,000 patacas to the police on Saturday.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Leng Kam Lon looks on during yesterday’s regular press conference. – Photo: Ada Lei
