Woman loses over 4 million through phone scam

Police recorded a marked uptick in fake customer service fraud cases

in the first 8 months of this year

which surged more than two times year-on-year.

Police say these latest scam tactics

have swindled victims including

a housewife who lost more than 4 million dollars.

The housewife was scammed

after she received a call posing as a Taobao customer service staffer.

The caller claimed her parcel was damaged

so she could receive compensation,

but they needed to verify her bank account details first.

The victim was then lured into logging into a fake online banking website

and setting up a new payee,

before being instructed to input

the so-called "verification code" which activated

money transferral to the scammers.

She ultimately lost upwards of 4.4 million dollars.

Police say this new scam tactic mostly involves phone calls

rather than phishing messages

as it is easier to manipulate the recipients' emotions and actions.