Three local residents aged between 30 and 50 were cheated out of 13,700 patacas in total by a mainland couple in their fifties who sold them counterfeit smartphones, Public Security Police (PSP) spokesman Wong Wai Chon said at a regular press conference on Monday.
Wong said that the male and female suspects, aged 52 and 53, are surnamed Huang and Chen respectively.
According to Wong, the three victims reported to the Public Security Police separately in May that they had separately purchased smartphones from the couple at different times in San Kio district, in Rua do Canal Novo and the Iao Hon neighbourhood.
The pair told each of the three victims that as they had gambled all their money away, they were willing to sell them their mobile phones at a knockdown price, resulting in a loss of 13,700 patacas in total for four counterfeit smartphones.
When the three victims returned home, Wong said, they discovered that most of the mobile phones’ functions were not working, including the camera and ordinary phone applications.
Wong noted that a PSP investigation identified Huang and Chen as the suspects, but the duo absconded to the mainland after defrauding the three victims.
PSP officers arrested the couple recently when they re-entered Macau via the Barrier Gate border checkpoint, on whom the officers found 15 bogus mobile phones, Wong said, adding that the pair admitted to purchasing the “mobile phones” in the mainland for 300 yuan (333 patacas) each and reselling them in Macau to earn extra money.
Both Huang and Chen have been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing fraud charges.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) on Monday shows evidence seized from the mainland fraud couple, such as 15 fake mobile phones.
