A local care worker was arrested for defrauding her co-workers out of money by saying that she could provide currency exchange for them at a “discounted rate”, and she resigned after receiving HK$630,000 from her colleagues, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lou Chan Fai said at a press conference on Wednesday.

According to Lou, the 44-year-old suspect surnamed Wan had worked at a rehabilitation centre in Coloane for less than two months.

Lou said the nine victims, aged between 22 and 47, are all non-resident workers (NRWs) who worked at the same centre as Wan, seven of whom are nursing assistants, while the remaining two are a physical therapy assistant and a handyman.

Wan began falsely claiming in March that she could change Hong Kong dollars into yuan at “below market exchange rates”. Her co-workers believed her and gave her money for the currency exchange.

After gaining their trust by successfully exchanging some currency for her co-workers at the “discounted rate”, Wan continued to accept money from them, and as the total amount grew larger, Wan “suddenly disappeared”.

Since Wan did not pay back the money, and the victims were unable to contact her they realised that they had been cheated and reported the case to the Judiciary Police last Friday.

According to Lou, the nine victims gave Wan a total of HK$630,000 through online transfers and in cash, and each was defrauded of between HK$2,300 to HK$150,000.

During the PJ investigation last Saturday, PJ officers learnt from the victims that Wan had returned to the rehabilitation centre for resignation procedures.

Under questioning by the Judiciary Police, Wan admitted that she was heavily addicted to gambling and had gambled away all the money she received from her co-workers. 

Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lou Chan Fai looks on during a regular press conference on Wednesday at the PJ headquarters. Photo: William Chan