A man from the mainland was arrested on Tuesday for pretending to be a police officer and scamming a male mainlander out of HK$60,000, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Cheong Sio Keong said during a special press conference yesterday.
The 22-year-old suspect surnamed Tang works as an e-commerce entrepreneur.
According to Cheong, Tang approached a man from the mainland on Tuesday in a smoking lounge at a casino in Cotai, offering the man a favourable illegal currency exchange deal. The man showed interest and followed Tang to another hotel lobby in Cotai, bringing chips worth HK$60,000 with him.
When the man took out the chips worth HK$60,000, Tang immediately claimed to be a “Macau police officer” and showed him a “police warrant card” in a black wallet with the word “Judiciary” on it. Tang told the man that he had violated Macau’s laws on illegal currency exchanges. Tang “seized” all the chips from the man and ordered the victim to leave. He also “prohibited” the man from entering the casino again.
The victim realised that he might have been scammed after discussing it with a friend and reported the case to the police later that day. With the assistance of the Public Security Police, Tang was intercepted at the Barrier Gate checkpoint on the same day. It was later confirmed that Tang is not a member of the Judiciary Police (PJ).
Under questioning, Tang admitted to committing the crime, saying that he had been planning it since last November. He told the police that after obtaining the chips, he went to another casino in Cotai and transferred all the money to his mainland bank account through an unknown person. He told the police that he purchased the fake warrant card involved in the case for 40 yuan online. He brought it with him when he came to Macau this time. He also told the police that since the end of 2024, he had lost approximately HK$309,000 in gambling. The police seized the fake warrant card in a black wallet with the word “Judiciary” written on it.
Tang has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing a fraud charge and a charge for impersonating a police officer, according to Cheong.
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the suspect from the PJ headquarters in Zape to PJ vehicle after yesterday’s special press conference. – Photo: Ada Lei
