Macau’s Judiciary Police (PJ) announced yesterday in a statement that they joined forces with nine anti-fraud centres to combat cross-border scams, tackling a total of 138,000 cases involving losses exceeding 6 billion patacas.
Representatives from the anti-fraud centres of multiple member countries and regions within the “FRONTIER+” cross-border anti-fraud cooperation platform held a press conference about the results of “FRONTIER+ III” joint enforcement operation in the Maldives yesterday.
The joint operation ran from March 10 to May 7, drawing participation from anti-fraud units across 10 countries and regions. These comprise Brunei, Canada, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Maldives, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand as well as China’s Hong Kong and Macau special administrative regions.
According to the statement, the joint operation targeted highly prevalent types of fraud, such as online shopping scams, task scams*, fraudulent online investments, and the impersonation of government officials or customer service representatives for fraudulent purposes
Law enforcement agencies across the participating countries and regions deployed more than 3,200 police personnel in the joint operation. Out of the 138,000 cases initiated, a total of 7,553 individuals were investigated and 3,018 were arrested, with suspects aged between 13 and 85.
A total of 102,000 fraud-linked bank accounts were frozen and over 1.28 billion patacas in illicit funds were seized by the authorities.
Speaking at the press conference, Cheong Un Hong, head of the PJ’s Anti-Fraud Coordination Centre, reported that Macau authorities investigated 81 telecom and online fraud cases during the operation, involving victims’ losses of 26.28 million patacas.
A total of 10 individuals were arrested in Macau where 11 bank accounts were frozen and 500,000 patacas in fraudulent funds were seized, Cheong said, pointing out that cross-border syndicates are increasingly using methods such as cryptocurrency transactions, overseas mobile payments, and hiring mules (couriers) to collect and deliver precious metals to launder illicit proceeds. He underscored the vital need for strengthened joint prevention and control efforts among regional police forces.
The Judiciary Police highlighted in the statement that telecom and online fraud in Macau have decreased for two consecutive years, with the first quarter of this year seeing a drop of 30.8 per cent compared to the same period last year. The Judiciary Police stressed that they will continue to deepen cooperation with the 13 member countries and regions to combat cross-border fraud and money laundering.
*A task scam (often called an optimisation scam or job scam) is a widespread online fraud where victims are recruited for seemingly simple, remote jobs, only to be tricked into sending their own money to the scammers. It is essentially a modern, digital twist on the classic advance-fee fraud, highly optimised to look like a legitimate freelance gig. – Gemini
Macau Judiciary Police Anti-Fraud Coordination Centre head Cheong Un Hong (second from right) speaks during yesterday’s “FRONTIER+ III” press conference held in the Maldives. – Photo: PJ
