An elderly local man lost 470,000 patacas after falling victim to an online romance scam in which a woman he met online tricked him into buying prepaid top-up cards, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Cheong Un Hong said yesterday.
Cheong revealed neither the victim’s age nor any other personal information.
According to Cheong, the victim met the woman on Facebook late last year, and they later switched to WhatsApp and developed an online relationship.
Cheong said that in May this year, the woman claimed she urgently needed investment funds for her business and asked the victim for financial assistance. Believing her claims, the elderly man bought top-up cards at convenience stores more than 20 times between May and this month, following her instructions, and sent her screenshots of the cards’ barcodes.
The total value of the cards amounted to 470,000 patacas, Cheong said.
On October 20, the woman told the victim that she would repay the money and instructed him to click a link and enter his banking details.
As the elderly man did not know how to complete the process, he sought assistance from staff at a bank in the northern district. The bank staff suspected that he was being scammed, stopped him from proceeding, and alerted the Judiciary Police, Cheong said.
According to Cheong, the case remains under investigation.
