Police "CyberDefender" social media platform announced that over the past week, police received more than 200 online shopping scam reports, with total losses exceeding HKD13 million. Amid a recent surge in fuel prices, fraudsters impersonated internal staff of "Sinopec" and used "gasoline top-up discount cards" as bait to deceive victims.A car owner recently received a cold-call WhatsApp message from someone posing as an "internal staff member of China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation", falsely claiming to offer gasoline top-up discount cards and urging the victim to make an immediate purchase. As the victim had previously used discount cards from other oil companies, he did not suspect fraud. The scammer further claimed that purchasing more discount cards would entitle the victim to higher discounts. Within one and a half months, the victim made more than ten transfers to multiple unknown personal bank accounts.Related News BofAS Raises Oil Price Forecast for This Year, Lifts PETROCHINA (00857.HK) TP to HKD12Subsequently, after failing to receive the physical gasoline top-up discount cards for an extended period, and being asked by the fraudster to pay "personal income tax", the victim realized he had been scammed, ultimately losing over HKD500,000.Police remind the public to:- Contact customer service through official channels;- Ignore unsolicited cold-call messages from unknown sources;- Carefully consider offers that appear "too good to be true" or requests for "multiple transfers within a short period";- Avoid disclosing sensitive personal information or security passwords simply because the other party claims to be an "internal staff member";- Use the "Scameter" or "Scameter App" to assess fraud risks before making payments;- Immediately terminate transactions if in doubt.(da/u)Related News G Sachs Reassesses Earnings Revision Leading Indicator (ERLI), Lists Hong Kong Buy Picks (Table)
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