73 individuals fall victim to Taobao, Alipay customer service scams

Scammers posing as Taobao and Alipay customer service representatives have conned 73 Macau residents out of MOP7.13 million since early August, the Judiciary Police (PJ) said, warning that any calls about “payment security plans” are fraudulent and should be ignored immediately.

The PJ announced in a press conference that among the victims, 28 were male and 45 were female, with only two being non-Macau residents. From August 11 to 27, over 433 individuals provided details about such crimes through the PJ’s anti-fraud hotline and app.

Scammers falsely claimed that victims’ payment security plans had expired, demanding deposits via credit cards, photographs of both sides of the cards, and shared screen recordings.

As a result, victims either lost transferred funds or had their credit card information stolen.

A PJ spokesperson warned, “Any customer service calls from Taobao or Alipay regarding ‘funds payment security plans’ are scams. These services are provided free by the platforms and do not require any payment or renewal. Citizens should ignore such calls immediately.” YL