CRIME | College student falls prey to new phone scam

A college student has lost MOP160,000 to an unknown group from the mainland in a new telephone scam, according to the Judiciary Police.
The female local student, in her early 20s, hid herself in an undisclosed location after she was told in a call that police authorities had withheld a parcel she had sent because it contained inappropriate objects.
The caller, who identified him or herself as from the mainland, requested that the student seek shelter in a location not known to anybody.
In the meantime the scammers approached her family, who were on the mainland at that time, and fabricated that the victim had been kidnapped and requested a ransom for her release.
The family subsequently remitted the requested sum to the unknown group only to later realize that it was a hoax.
It remains unclear how the scammers obtained the family’s information.
The police urged citizens to stay vigilant while receiving calls purportedly from mainland police authorities, which they said would not make direct calls requesting the transfer of funds.
Since last year the number of mainland phone scams has been on the rise, often involving the impersonation of mainland security authorities and post office personnel.