A 39-year-old mainland woman was arrested yesterday for scamming a local snack bar owner out of over 600,000 yuan (718,000 patacas), Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lou Chan Fai said at a special press conference yesterday.
According to Lou, the 37-year-old snack bar owner, surnamed Ma, was introduced to the suspect online by his friend in May last year. Lou told the press that the suspect, surnamed Io, said that she could supply food for his snack bar. Lou said the two cooperated smoothly but never met in person, and in September Io called Ma and asked whether he was interested in investing in a loan scheme, with returns of 10 percent.
Lou said Ma was attracted by the investment and decided to transfer 685,000 yuan to Io’s mainland bank account in September, and Io paid Ma 16,000 yuan later last year as purported “profit”. According to Lou, however, when Ma asked to withdraw a partial amount of his investment, Io constantly refused the request and told Ma that his investment had been stolen by her friend, but promised to pay him back eventually.
Lou said Ma received a total of 53,000 yuan in reimbursement from Io, but then was unable to contact Io anymore and decided to seek help from the police on November 15.
According to Lou, the Judiciary Police quickly identified the suspect, and apprehended Io on Tuesday when she was entering Macau through the Barrier Gate checkpoint.
Lou said Io confessed that she had scammed Ma to cover her own investment debts, and was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing charges of fraud involving a considerable amount, officially defined as over 150,000 patacas.
The hooded fraud suspect is escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers from the PJ headquarters to a PJ vehicle yesterday. Photo: William Chan
