Macau and Zhuhai police have dismantled a cross-border telecommunications fraud ring that impersonated “Douyin customer service representatives”, with 54 local residents losing more than 10 million patacas between September 18 and October 12, a Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesperson said during a special press conference yesterday.
The victims, including young people and elderly residents, lost amounts ranging from several thousand to two million patacas each, and investigations showed that the proceeds were mainly deposited into three channels: Chinese mainland and Hong Kong bank accounts, overseas credit card purchases, and various e-payment transfers, according to the PJ spokesperson.
The joint operation on Monday led to the arrest of three members of the fraud ring in Zhuhai.
The three suspects, all mainland Chinese, were identified by police as Chen, 37; Zhang, 39; and Zeng, 29. They served as technical staff and equipment maintenance personnel at the scam den, operating the equipment and making fraudulent calls.
According to the PJ spokesperson, the syndicate falsely claimed that the victims’ Douyin livestreaming services were about to expire and that they had to pay 800 patacas to renew them. Under the pretext of helping victims cancel the service, the scammers persuaded them to download applications and enable screen sharing, allowing them to remotely control the victims’ phones and transfer money from their accounts.
Some victims who had physical credit cards were also instructed to activate their phones’ near-field communication (NFC) function, allowing the scammers to obtain card data for fraudulent overseas transactions.
During the investigation, police found that the syndicate operated from a den in Zhuhai, using Macau prepaid SIM cards and signals from an Ilha Verde mobile base station to camouflage calls to appear as originating from Macau.
Since late September, the den had made at least 19,500 scam calls to Macau residents. During the raid, mainland police seized 66 mobile phones, 42 of which were operating, along with more than 200 SIM cards and other suspected criminal equipment.
The three suspects are being investigated by mainland police. The Judiciary Police said there was no evidence so far that Macau residents had participated in the operation.
The investigation is continuing to identify the ring’s masterminds, overseas accomplices, and the whereabouts of the stolen funds.
The Judiciary Police (PJ) have once again urged the public to hang up on fraudulent calls claiming to be customer service agents requesting screen sharing, app downloads, credit card details, or money transfers. They advised residents to verify any claims independently and reminded them to use the anti-fraud app, call the anti-fraud hotline on 8800 7777, or contact the crime-reporting hotline on 993 for assistance.
Douyin is known as TikTok overseas.
This undated handout photo provided by the Judiciary Police (PJ) shows Zhuhai police officers arresting three suspects during a raid on a ‘Douyin’ scam den in the adjacent Chinese mainland city.
