The Judiciary Police (PJ) have received seven separate reports of scams involving fraudsters impersonating Douyin customer service representatives, with the seven local victims losing a combined 2.436 million patacas, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokeswoman Leong Sok Man said during a regular press conference yesterday.
According to Leong, the victims, comprising four men and three women aged between their 20s and middle age, reported the cases between October 30 and November 2. Individual losses ranged from 2,249 patacas to 2.1 million patacas.
Leong noted that the scammers followed a similar modus operandi, calling victims while posing as “official” Douyin customer service representatives. They falsely claimed that the victims’ free livestreaming accounts were about to expire and that a monthly service fee of 800 yuan would automatically be deducted from their bank accounts.
The scammers then offered to help cancel the purported subscription and directed victims to access suspicious websites through their browsers.
When the victims failed to complete the procedures, the scammers instructed them to download unfamiliar third-party applications and enable screen-sharing functions on their mobile phones. This allowed the fraudsters to remotely access their devices and obtain banking details, verification codes, and transaction passwords before transferring all the money out of their accounts, Leong added.
Leong said the largest loss involved a middle-aged local woman who received a fraudulent call last Tuesday and was persuaded to follow the scammers’ instructions. She only realised she had been defrauded on Saturday and subsequently reported the case to the police.
The cases have been referred to the PJ’s Investigation Department for follow-up.
Douyin is known as TikTok overseas. Literally translated from Chinese, Douyin means “shaking sound”.
