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People desperate for hand sanitiser are being scammed into joining a WeChat group to buy it at a special price, but only to be kicked out of the group and blocked after they have made their payments.
Police say they have received a number of reports in recent days of people buying hand sanitisers and other products through WeChat platform and not receiving these items.
"At this stage, Police are assessing these reports," a police spokesman said.
Buyers who pay for hand sanitisers on a WeChat group are kicked out and blocked once payments are made. Photo / File.
He warned people to be vigilant about what they purchase online, especially if it is through social media or a messaging service.
"Where possible, people should avoid paying for goods through a bank transfer without a means of verifying whether the vendor is genuine or not," the spokesman said.
Another police source told the Herald many were capitalising on people's desperation for products like masks and hand sanitisers in the wake of the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak.
"It is really hard to tell which ones are genuine and which ones are not," she said.
One victim, who wanted to be known only as Ben, said he was excited to have chanced upon the WeChat site after having failed to find hand sanitisers at local pharmacies and supermarkets.
"The number of coronavirus cases here are going up and up, and I was worried that I didn't have anything to sanitise my hands with as I touch many things in my work," said Ben, who works as a courier driver.
Police warn to be vigilant about online purchases, especially if it is through social media or a messaging service. Photo / Lincoln Tan
"Then I was invited to this WeChat group where these products are available and immediately I paid for four bottles at $108. But immediately after the payment went through I was removed from the group, and blocked."
Stacey Zeng said she also scanned a QR code to join the group on March 23.
"The sellers said the products were arriving the following week, so I transferred $47 for two bottles. But on March 29, they removed me from the chat group and blocked my contact," Zeng said.
"It was then that I realised this was a fraud. I searched the chat history and found 13 other victims, all with similar experience like me. We have lodged police reports online."
Zeng said she was unable to warn others in the group, which at the time had 77 members, because she had been blocked.
Last year it was reported that New Zealanders lost $33 million to online scams, but it is believed that many on WeChat - a social media platform popular among the Chinese community - go unreported.
Less than 20 of the 13,000 scams reported to NetSafe came from WeChat, which has more than one billion users globally.
