Five young women from the Chinese mainland have separately fallen victim to concert ticket scams, resulting in a total loss of 18,136 patacas, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chao Teng Hin said during a regular press conference yesterday.
According to Chao, the police received separate reports from the five victims between Friday and Sunday, who had been defrauded by concert ticket scams employing similar tactics between January 31 and February 7. The victims were unable to obtain tickets after making the cash transfers, with the scammers subsequently requesting further payments under various pretexts. Chao added that the total amount lost by the quintet was 18,136 patacas, with the highest individual loss amounting to 10,438 patacas and the lowest to 480 patacas.
Chao noted that one of the victims posted on a social media platform on Saturday that she wanted to purchase tickets for a concert to be held in Macau. About an hour later, a scammer offered to sell two tickets for 6,000 yuan (6,937 patacas). After the victim transferred the money, the scammer falsely claimed that the tickets were sold out and offered to process a refund, providing a QR code for the victim to contact the so-called “finance personnel.”
Chao said that the purported “finance” staff member then requested that the victim open a “corporate account” in order to process the refund, instructing the victim to transfer 3,000 yuan to a designated account first. After complying with the request, the “finance” staff claimed that the establishment of the “corporate relationship” was unsuccessful and requested another transfer. Realising she had been scammed, the victim immediately reported a total loss of 9,000 yuan to the police.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chao Teng Hin looks on during yesterday’s regular press conference. – Photo: Ada Lei
