This year, the Judiciary Police (PJ) has received many complaints from the public pertinent to phishing SMS scams. In response, PJ released multiple Police Information Circulars, advising residents to stay vigilant against bogus SMS allegedly from telecommunication apps, shopping platforms, payment apps, etc. On the 24th of October 2023, the Bureau issued another circular warning the public about “phony MPay phishing SMS scam.” Unfortunately, between the 25th of October and the 3rd of November, 11 residents were victimized by the abovementioned fraud and incurred a loss of close to MOP$80,000.
All victims claimed they had received fraudulent SMS purporting their MPay points would soon expire, and to redeem points for gifts, they would have to log into a bogus website and input the usernames and passwords of their MPay accounts.
When the victims later received transaction SMS from banks associated with their MPay accounts, they realized the websites they logged in earlier were fake.
Once again, the Judiciary PoliceAnti-Fraud Coordination Center advises the public to examine SMS from corporations carefully. If they find any suspicious SMS, they should verify by calling the company’s customer service hotline. Never click unidentified links or enter bank account information, transaction password, or credit card details to prevent theft of bank account information or credit card details. Should you suspect fraud, call the Judiciary Police's Anti-Fraud Enquiry hotline at 8800 7777 or the crime report hotline at 993 immediately for assistance.
