The Judiciary Police (PJ) received reports from 11 people who fell victim to an “MPay phishing SMS scam” on Wednesday, losing a combined total of 84,800 patacas, PJ spokesman Cheong Siu Keong said during a regular press conference yesterday.
Cheong identified the victims – 10 local residents and one mainlander – as three elderly men, four middle-aged men, three middle-aged women, and one young woman.
According to Cheong, the victims had received text messages earlier that day claiming that their MPay accounts had encountered abnormalities. The messages urged them to accept certain terms immediately, warning that their accounts would otherwise be restricted.
The messages contained links which the victims mistakenly believed to be genuine. After clicking on the links, they were directed to fraudulent webpages where they entered their account details and passwords.
The victims subsequently discovered that their MPay accounts had been used to make transactions without their authorisation, with individual losses ranging from 4,600 to 18,300 patacas. Suspecting fraud, they reported the cases to the police.
The PJ reiterated that MPay would never ask users to enter their passwords, transaction verification codes, or other sensitive information through text messages or links.
The police urged residents to verify the authenticity of any webpage before entering sensitive information related to their e-payment accounts.
Anyone who suspects they have encountered a scam can use the Judiciary Police anti-fraud application to check the risk level of a website, or call the anti-fraud hotline on 8800 4777 or the report hotline on 993. 

Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Cheong Siu Keong looks on during yesterday’s regular press conference.  – Photo: Sherwin Hng

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