Police urge vigilance amid multi-million ‘TikTok’ hoax upsurge – Macau Business

By Aries Un
Macau has been battling a wave of scams linked to the mainland Chinese version of TikTok, known in Chinese as Douyin, a popular social media app best known for short-form video creation, with one of the latest victims reported on Wednesday having lost as much as MOP2.03 million (US$0.25 million),
The spike in fraud prompted the Judiciary Police (PJ) to issue a warning on Tuesday, urging residents to remain vigilant when receiving dodgy calls.
According to a 6 October statement from the security force, scams of this kind began surging in mid-September this year.
More than 100 residents who were close to falling victim have so far approached the police with information to assist their investigation, the PJ said.
Between 18 September and 6 October, 25 residents came forward to report combined losses of MOP5.4 million.
During that period, the largest reported loss amounted to around MOP2 million.
The police said the scammers allegedly posed as customer service agents when contacting victims, with some callers even able to identify them by name.
In these cases, the alleged victims were told that a paid service they had subscribed to on Douyin was about to expire and would be automatically renewed.
To help cancel the renewal, the victims were instructed to share their phone screens with the alleged scammers, who also asked them to provide banking information.
‘During the process, the scammers will constantly hurry the victim to prevent them from thinking clearly or hanging up, leaving them no time to verify the truth,’ the police statement read.
The PJ advised residents not to engage with suspicious callers and urged those with concerns to verify the contents of such calls through official channels.
As part of its anti-fraud efforts, the authorities also recommended calling the enquiry hotline on 8800 7777 or the emergency reporting hotline on 993 for assistance.
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