The Judiciary Police (PJ) arrested three locals on Tuesday for their participation in a criminal group engaged in computer fraud and document forgery, with a total of 3.5 million patacas involved, PJ spokesman Cheong Un Hong said during a special press conference yesterday.
Cheong identified the suspects as a 39-year-old businessman surnamed Hoi, a 34-year-old male Key Opinion Leader (KOL), and a 38-year-old female clerk surnamed Ngan who works for a computer company.
According to Lei Chi Wai from the Information Technology Crimes Division, the police received reports between May and October 2024 from two local banks about merchants processing a significant number of suspicious overseas credit card transactions via contactless payment methods. The criminal group exploited illegally obtained credit card information linked to mobile payment systems, conducting fraudulent transactions through POS terminals and online payments, involving 2,611 transactions with a total exceeding 3.5 million patacas. Among these, 771 transactions were flagged as disputed by the issuing banks, amounting to 1.18 million patacas.
The police discovered that the merchants involved had an abnormal surge in transaction volume over a short period, with expenditure amounts inconsistent with the actual prices of goods. The credit card data originated from the Belarus, France, Indonesia, the Middle East, South Africa, Taiwan and the United States with some cards issued by the same bank, indicating that the group was using fraudulent transactions for illegal cash withdrawals.
Lei noted that Hoi’s POS terminal for a car company processed 2,148 suspicious transactions from April 7 to 20, 2024, involving 2.65 million patacas, with 1 million patacas flagged as disputed by the banks. The police discovered that Hoi had transferred funds to his personal account and made various cash withdrawals, credit card payments, and used the cash for personal expenses.
Meanwhile, Lam’s two “murder mystery game”* businesses conducted 310 fraudulent transactions from August 7 to 13, 2024, amounting to 750,000 patacas, with 113,000 patacas classified as disputed. Lam used 660,000 patacas of the funds to purchase and transfer cryptocurrency and withdrew 90,000 patacas. To evade bank scrutiny, Lam forged at least 30 transaction documents.
Moreover, Ngan operated an online beauty products store that processed 153 fraudulent transactions from August 22 to September 2, 2024, involving 140,000 patacas, with 28,000 patacas classified as disputed. She transferred all the funds to her personal account but could not provide shipping records for the transactions.
According to Lei, the three suspects allegedly used their own businesses or online stores to conduct fraudulent transactions with illegally obtained overseas credit card information, defrauding financial institutions. The police believed that they belong to the same criminal group, utilising cryptocurrency and cash withdrawals to transfer funds while forging documents to conceal their activities.
The police separately arrested Hoi at his flat in the northern district, Lam at his workplace in the city centre, and Ngan on Tuesday at the Macau airport when she was entering Macau. Under questioning, all suspects refused to cooperate.
The three suspects were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing charges of computer fraud, document forgery, and participation in a criminal group.
*According to Wikipedia, a murder mystery game is a type of game in which players investigate and solve fictitious murders. In many variations, a player secretly plays as a murderer while the others attempt to determine the murderer’s identity.
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the hooded fraud suspects to a PJ van outside the PJ headquarters in Zape yesterday. – Photo: Ada Lei
