Crime | 20 fall victim to phone scam, PJ on the alert

A woman uses a Samsung Electronics Co. smartphone in Beijing, China, on Saturday, March 7, 2015. China set the lowest economic growth target in more than 15 years and flagged increasing headwinds as leaders tackle the side effects of a generation-long expansion that spurred corruption, fueled debt and hurt the environment. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg

The Judiciary Police (PJ) has warned residents of a telephone scam that has swindled money from at least 20 people after the victims received calls from conmen pretending to represent a mainland China authority and asking for the their back account details.
According to a PJ spokesperson cited by Lusa news agency, police authorities have received about 100 complaints regarding this type of phone scam. Twenty people fell victim to the scam, either providing their bank account details or agreeing to do a bank transfer as required over the phone.
The PJ sent a text message on Friday to Macau mobile number holders warning them of “a scam, in which the conmen calls residents and pretends to be an official from a China law enforcement agency, prosecutions office or post office.” “If you receive such a call asking for your bank account details, or passwords, or instructing you to do a bank transfer, please be aware that this is likely to be a telephone scam,” it added.
Police authorities are also urging citizens to contact the crime report hotline 993, in case they receive this call.
Last month, police authorities warned citizens of another scam, in which conmen pretended to be bank employees requesting that clients provide them with their bank account details.
The number of telephone scams recorded in 2014 more than doubled the number of the previous year. Last month, the PJ reported that there had been a total of 158 cases of phone fraud since the beginning of the year, with a sum of over MOP7 million swindled.  CP

Two cases reported in one day

Last Friday, the Judiciary Police received two phone scam reports from local citizens in which the perpetrators, identifying themselves as the call-receivers’ cousin, asked for bailout money as they claimed to be held under detention in the mainland. One of the victims lost a total of RMB50,000 as a result of the fraud, while the other one was vigilant enough to have seen through the scammer’s tricks.