A young man and a young woman from the mainland who live in Macau have separately fallen victim to “fake police’ scams, losing a total of 6 million patacas, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Cheong Kim Fong said during a regular press conference yesterday.
According to Cheong, the young woman received a call on June 27 from someone speaking Putonghua who claimed to be a “staff member of the local Immigration Department.” The caller accused her of being involved in a phone scam in the Chinese mainland, and then transferred the call to another line. The second person impersonated a “mainland police officer” and accused her of not only participating in a phone scam but also of money laundering, insisting that she cooperate with an investigation.
Following the caller’s instructions, the woman downloaded an app for video calls. During the so-called “investigation,” the scammer sent her fake notices and an “arrest warrant.” The woman then transferred HK$1.7 million (1.75 million patacas) to a designated account for a “funds review.” Between July 24 and September 2, she made a total of 12 transfers, amounting to HK$2.7 million and 2 million yuan to various accounts. On Tuesday, the woman read news reports about similar scams. Realising she had been deceived, she reported a total loss of 5.05 million patacas to the police on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Cheong noted that the young man received a similar call on the morning of July 27, during which the caller again posed as “immigration staff”. Using similar tactics, the scammer tricked him into transferring a total of HK$870,000 to designated accounts in two transactions. Last Thursday, while browsing online, he came across news reports about similar scams. Upon realising he had been scammed, he reported a loss of 896,000 patacas to the police on Wednesday.
Cheong noted that the scammers in both cases impersonated “immigration personnel” and transferred the call to a “mainland police officer”, requiring video calls, screen sharing, logging into bank accounts – all under the pretext of a “funds review” to lure the victims into transferring money to so-called “safe accounts.”
Cheong added that two similar scams were reported on Wednesday and Thursday. In both cases, the victims, having previously come across anti-fraud information, remained vigilant and suffered no losses.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Cheong Kim Fong looks on during yesterday’s regular press conference. – Photo: Ada Lei
