PJ receives multiple computer fraud reports

The Judiciary Police (PJ) revealed that they have received reports on three separate cases of suspected computer fraud over the previous weekend, where one of the victims claimed to have lost up to MOP10,000.
The first victim approached the PJ on January 23 and claimed that he met a person over a mobile phone game the day before. The person told him that there was an Internet platform that allowed users to trade virtual goods and objects in the game.
The victim then logged into the platform and deposited TWD3,000 into his new account to buy a virtual object. However, he found that the platform did not give him the object he purchased. It also asked the victim to put an extra TWD8,000 into a new account before refunding him the previous TWD3,000. The victim followed the instructions and was again told that he had entered a wrong bank account number, which led to his account in the platform being suspended. The victim was asked to pay another TWD28,000 to lift the suspension, which he followed.
However, the victim found that he still could not purchase any virtual objects or get his funds back. When he tried to contact the platform again, he was told to pay TWD36,000 to reopen the account, which made him suspect that it may be fraudulent. He claimed to have lost TWD39,000 (around MOP11,000). PJ is still investigating the case.
The other two suspected fraud cases were reported on January 25. In the first case, the manager of a company claimed to the PJ that their company started emailing a French company in November last year to arrange a business agreement.
When the manager was about to make a bank transfer to cement the agreement, he received an email from the French company, claiming that their bank account was suspended, and asking the manager to transfer the money to another bank account.
However, the manager found that the email address was different from the usual one the company used in the past. They also felt suspicious about the email. Therefore, the manager contacted the French company through email and enquired about the issue.
The manager said that they received a reply that confirmed the French company had changed their bank account. But they still felt suspicious of the scenario and decided to call the company.
Through the phone call, the manager learnt that the French firm had sent no such emails, and later found that the company’s email was hacked.
In the third case, the Facebook account of the victim was allegedly hacked and used to send fake messages, asking their Facebook friends to buy online game points for them. It is still not clear how many of their friends have suffered financial losses.