Macau joins regional crackdown on scams, arrests suspects in Alipay fraud cases

A month-long cross-border operation led by law enforcement in seven Asian jurisdictions has resulted in the arrest of 1,858 people and the dismantling of multiple transnational scam networks, the Judiciary Police (PJ) announced yesterday.

The operation, carried out from April 28 to May 28, included agencies from Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Maldives, Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand. Authorities intercepted an estimated HKD150 million (USD20 million) in fraudulent funds and froze nearly 33,000 bank accounts.

In Macau, the police targeted scams involving impersonation of Alipay customer service representatives. Three local suspects, one man and two women, were arrested in connection with this emerging scheme. According to Cheong Un Hong, head of the PJ’s Anti-Fraud Coordination Center, the scam surfaced in April and involved over 400,000 fraudulent phone calls, all made within Macau.

A total of 84 people have been defrauded, losing around MOP4 million.

Police raided two locations, including a hotel room, and seized 16 sets of GOIP (Global System for Mobile Communications over IP) equipment used to mask the origin of scam calls.

In total, Macau authorities investigated 78 cases involving approximately MOP12 million. 16 people were questioned, nine were arrested, eight bank accounts were frozen, and MOP67,000 in suspected criminal proceeds was confiscated.

In Hong Kong, Commercial Crime Bureau Chief Superintendent Wong Chun-yue confirmed the operation successfully shut down multiple scam centers and prevented substantial financial losses. The scams involved online shopping, investment fraud, employment scams, and phone impersonation schemes.

Singapore police reported that a finance director was duped into wiring USD499,000 to Hong Kong through a deepfake video call in which scammers impersonated a multinational CEO. Authorities were able to recover the money through international cooperation.

Officials noted that victims are not limited to those defrauded but often include scam workers themselves, who may be recruited under false pretenses and subjected to forced labor in harsh conditions.

A recent United Nations report highlighted the growing global reach of such criminal syndicates, particularly in Southeast Asian regions like Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and the Philippines.

Authorities in all participating regions say they will continue strengthening cross-border collaboration to fight increasingly sophisticated fraud operations.