Two local men and a male non-resident worker reported to the police this week that they almost became the victims of different scams – the two locals said that they had received phone calls from people pretending to be mainland and local government officials, while the non-resident worker from the mainland said that he was nearly tricked by a fraudulent online loan application website, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lai Chio Hong said at a regular press conference on Wednesday.
None of them suffered any losses. At the time of the press conference, PJ officers were still investigating the three separate cases, and no arrests had been made.
Lai said that a local jobless man in his twenties told the police on Tuesday that he received a call from a man last Friday claiming to be from a courier company, claiming that his parcel contained contraband. The local man denied the claim.
However, the caller transferred the call to another man who said that he was an officer from the Shanghai Public Security Bureau who claimed that the local man was involved in money laundering and ordered him to provide his personal information. The victim followed suit and the “officer” told him to use another app for follow-up communication.
Call passed on to ‘prosecutor’
Lai said the “officer” sent an online arrest warrant on Monday containing the victim’s identity data and photo, and told the victim to use another app to contact a “prosecutor”. Later, the “prosecutor” told him to open a Hong Kong dollar bank account on the internet, and on Tuesday, the “prosecutor” provided him with links to two websites, telling him to open a Hong Kong dollar online account and to provide further information for registration purposes.
According to Lai, the local man deliberately entered false data when registering because he had meanwhile grown suspicious. However, the “prosecutor” discovered that the information was false and threatened him with immediate arrest. He got scared and promptly provided the correct information.
Lai said the man later received a bank SMS notification that 50,000 patacas in his pataca bank account had been transferred to his newly opened Hong Kong dollar account. He immediately changed his online banking password and no money was lost. It was then that he decided to report the case to the police.
Call from ‘immigration officer’
Meanwhile, an 18-year-old local male pupil reported to the police on Tuesday that he received a call on his home phone from a man who claimed to be a local immigration officer, telling that he was barred from entering and leaving Macau because of a fraud case.
The call was then transferred to an “officer” claiming to be from the Beijing Public Security Bureau who requested his smartphone number. Afterwards, another person told him to provide his personal information and photo so that the authorities could check his assets, and he did so. Later, after discussing the matter with his family, the young man realised that he was being deceived and reported the case to the police.
15,000 yuan ‘authentication fee’ for 50,000 yuan loan
Meanwhile, a non-resident worker from the mainland in his twenties reported to the police on Tuesday that he downloaded a loan application app from the Internet in the early morning of that day as he wanted to apply for a 50,000-yuan (58,000 patacas) loan.
He contacted the website’s “customer service centre” for details of the loan application. The centre requested he provide his personal and bank account information. In addition, he was told to pay a 15,000-yuan “authentication fee” before the loan could be approved. He grew suspicious and reported the case to the police.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lai Chio Hong poses during Wednesday’s regular press conference. Photo: Camy Tam
