Camy Tam

        A local woman was arrested on Tuesday for cheating more than 70 VIP room clients of a casino in Cotai out of nearly 100 million patacas with the help of an accomplice, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lou Chan Fai said at a special press conference yesterday.

The 42-year-old suspect is surnamed Tong.

According to Lou, two local victims, a woman surnamed Lao and a man surnamed Tong, reported to the Judiciary Police separately last week that they had been cheated by two women out of more than HK$9 million to invest in a VIP room in Cotai early this year. The female victim told the police that she was persuaded by “a woman” – who was on the run at the time of press conference – to sign an agreement in March to invest HK$5 million in a VIP room in Cotai.

She was informed by the VIP room on Friday that the agreement had been cancelled and then discovered that all the money she had deposited in the account had vanished. She was unable to contact “the woman” and suspected that she had been cheated, after which she decided to report the case to the police. During the Judiciary Police’s investigation into the case, the male victim Tong reported to the police that he had been cheated out of more than HK$4 million. He told the police that the female suspect named Tong encouraged him to invest in Lao’s VIP room account, promising that he could earn 1 percent daily interest on every HK$1 million. He deposited more than HK$3.7 million in June but he never received any money.

He finally decided to report the case to the police, a total loss of capital and interest of more than HK$4 million.

Lou said that the Judiciary Police discovered that Lao had authorised “the woman” to operate her account on her behalf. “The woman” authorised the female suspect named Tong to withdraw money from clients’ accounts who had invested in the VIP room. The Judiciary Police discovered that there were at least 70 clients, most of them from the mainland, who have been defrauded out of more than 86.5 million patacas. Each client’s loss ranged between 100,000 and 5 million patacas.

According to Lou, the suspect named Tong was accompanied by a lawyer when she went to the police station to assist in the investigation. Tong denied the fraud, claiming that she only withdrew the money according to the instructions of “the woman” and transferred the money to her account. However, Tong refused to provide further information. Based on the evidence, the Judiciary Police discovered that Tong made multiple withdrawals between March and September and believe that she is involved in the case. PJ officers will contact more victims and are continuing their investigation to look for “the woman” and the ill-gotten money.

Lou did not reveal any further information on the second suspect merely referred to as “the woman”.

Tong was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing fraud charges, according to Lou.

The hooded fraud suspect is being escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers from the PJ headquarters to a PJ vehicle yesterday. Photos: Maria Cheang Ut Meng

Evidence seized from the VIP room such as records of clients and account books is displayed at the Judiciary Police (PJ) headquarters yesterday.