The Judiciary Police (PJ) Anti-Fraud Coordination Centre urged the public yesterday to beware of a fake “Taobao” payment scam.
According to the statement, the Judiciary Police have recently noticed scammers fraudulently using the names of the Bank of China (BOC) and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) to send mass text messages to residents.
These messages, the statement said, falsely claim that a “Taobao payment protection has been successfully activated” or “Taobao membership has expired and fees will be deducted,” in an attempt to trick residents into calling a phone number provided in the message.
Once the call is made, the statement said, the scammer pretends to be a bank employee and then instructs the victim to switch to a messaging app for further communication.
According to the statement, the scammer then requests bank or credit card information and asks the victim to download a screen-sharing app or even transfer money to a designated account.
The statement pointed out that the scammers continuously change the organisation they impersonate and have shifted their tactics from proactively calling potential victims to sending out mass fraudulent text messages designed to trick people into calling back. This method aims to exploit individuals with a low level vigilance and lure them into the scam, the statement said.
Today is November 11 which in the Chinese mainland is known among shoppers as “Double 11”. November 11, also known as “Singles’ Day” in the Chinese mainland, is the world’s largest online shopping festival. The date was chosen because the numeral “1” resembles a “bare stick,” a Chinese slang term for an unmarried person, according to DeepSeek.
The Double 11 event has transformed from an anti-Valentine’s Day for single people into a 24-hour retail extravaganza that dwarfs other major shopping events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined, DeepSeek points out.
In the statement, the centre urged the public not to trust any purported “customer service” based solely on an incoming call or text message. The centre said that members of the public should remain vigilant, reminding them that they can also use the Judiciary Police’s “Anti-Fraud Programme” app to check the risk level and report suspected fraudulent information they received.
This handout image provided by the Judiciary Police (PJ) yesterday urges the public to beware a fake ‘Taobao’ payment scam.
