Six locals caught up in phone scams

Six new reports of phone scams have been recorded by the Judiciary Police (PJ).

The victims of the crimes were all local residents, a PJ spokesperson said during the regular press conference of the local police forces.

Four women and two men, aged between 33 and 51 years old, fell victim to the same scam.

They told police they received an SMS on their phones claiming there was a parcel on the way to be delivered to them, but required a delivery fee of 19,20 patacas. The SMS provided a link for them to pay.

Following the link, the victims filled out a form with personal information including credit card information.

None of them were suspicious until a few days later, when they realized their cards had been used for purchases. In at least one case, the amount spent was GBP11,825.50 (121,549 patacas).

In total, and across different currencies, the six victims reported a loss of the equivalent of 164,192 patacas.

Most of the transactions were done in the UK, Malaysia, and other undisclosed countries.

Although the PJ has been warning the public about such scams, cases continue to rise among local residents. According to statistics released by the Secretariat for Security recently and related to the first quarter of this year, police and the banking sector have successfully prevented the loss of some 54 million patacas.