Taipa and Coloane Community Service Consultative Council Deputy Convenor Li Yongjian announced yesterday that the number of fraud cases decreased in the first three quarters of this year, but total financial losses increased.
The government-appointed Taipa and Coloane Community Service Consultative Council held its regular monthly meeting at the Seac Pai Van Community Complex in Coloane yesterday. During the closed-door meeting, Judiciary Police (PJ) IT Crimes Division senior officer Li Chi Wai gave a presentation on measures to prevent telephone and telecommunications network fraud.
The meeting took place behind closed doors.
During a post-meeting press briefing, Li Yongjian cited a PJ statement provided to councillors, which revealed that while the number of fraud cases decreased year-on-year in the first three quarters of 2026, total losses exceeded 200 million patacas, with investment fraud resulting in particularly high losses.
He pointed out that the main types of fraud included phone scams impersonating mainland law enforcement and judicial authorities, scams impersonating platform customer service staff (such those masquerading as Douyin personnel), MPay phishing text messages, scams impersonating schools placing orders, and online investment fraud, among others – with scammers constantly updating their methods.
Douyin is known as TikTok overseas. Literally translated from Chinese, Douyin means “shaking sound”.
Li also said that the Judiciary Police use an integrated model that runs prevention, recovery, and enforcement in parallel. He added that PJ officers have carried out community and school outreach activities, launched an anti-fraud WeChat mini-programme, worked with the banking and telecom sectors to freeze payments and dissuade victims from proceeding with transactions, and strengthened cross-border cooperation to crack down on fraud syndicates.
Councillor Hoi Kit Leng noted that in the first three quarters, the Judiciary Police held a total of 515 anti-fraud publicity events, reaching 79,000 person-times, approximately 41,000 of whom were young people and students. Working alongside banks and relevant departments, they successfully intervened in 592 cases involving approximately 128 million patacas, according to Hoi.
A total of 73 suspects linked to fraud syndicates were arrested, she said, adding that the anti-fraud mini-programme recorded 21,000 visits and identified around 2,200 high-risk enquiries.
Li Yongjian also highlighted councillors’ concerns that, despite the fall in fraud cases, the monetary losses have risen. Councillors expressed hope that the Judiciary Police will continue to strengthen the use of technology, cross-border cooperation, and targeted community engagement campaigns, as well as reach out further to communities, schools, and chambers of commerce to raise public awareness.
He noted that the Judiciary Police have established a cross-sector coordination mechanism, optimised the layout of banking text messages by adding anti-fraud reminders, and are using data analysis to issue proactive warnings and visit high-risk members of the public in person to alert them to the risk of fraud.
Taipa and Coloane Community Service Consultative Council Deputy Convenor Li Yongjian (left) and Councillor Hoi Kit Leng pose during yesterday’s press briefing after the government-appointed council’s closed-door meeting at the Seac Pai Van Community Complex in Coloane. – Photo: Armindo Neves
