Three residents lose MOP1.1 million in ‘mainland authority impersonation scams’

Three local residents have fallen victim to “mainland authority impersonation scams” recently, losing a combined total of more than MOP1.1 million, the Judiciary Police (PJ) said.

The three victims, one man and two women, all middle-aged, received fraudulent calls between April 20 and April 29 from scammers pretending to be Wuhan Public Security officers, police said.

In each case, the caller claimed that a mobile phone number registered under the victim’s name was involved in criminal activity.

One female victim was told her number had been sending fraudulent messages. After she denied involvement, the scammer sent her a fake arrest warrant image. Following instructions, she cooperated with a video investigation, during which she shared her screen and logged into her online banking – exposing her account number, password, and verification codes.

The woman only realized she had been scammed after receiving a bank inquiry about unusual transactions. Checking her bank app, she confirmed that MOP750,000 had been transferred out. She immediately requested that her account be frozen and filed a police report.

The two other victims were told they were linked to multiple fraud cases. They also cooperated with video investigations and ultimately had MOP251,530 and MOP99,400 transferred out of their accounts, respectively.

The three victims lost a combined total of MOP1,100,930.