A local woman was arrested on Thursday for cheating a man out of more than 350,000 patacas in a “bride price” scam, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Leng Kam Lon said at a regular press conference on Friday.
The 40-year-old woman surnamed Lam works in the fashion wholesale business.
According to Leng, the victim who is in his thirties and jobless, told the police that he met Lam through a social media app in 2012, and they did not get in touch frequently in the first six years of their acquaintance.
However in May 2019, Lam took the initiative to chat with the victim from time to time, and started dating him and, claiming that she held several different passports and owned many luxury properties in Macau.
She also claimed that all her properties would belong to the victim after they got married. Soon afterwards, Lam moved in with the victim. In June 2019, Lam claimed that she was pregnant, asked the victim to marry her and pay her 350,000 patacas as “bride price”, promising to transfer the ownership of her luxury properties to him later.
According to Leng, the victim paid 350,000 patacas as well as property transfer fees to Lam between July and September 2019. Leng did not specify how much the victim paid for the purported property transfer fees.
The victim discovered later that Lam was not pregnant and the properties were not in her name. He suspected that he had been defrauded and reported the case to the police. Leng did not mention when the victim reported the case to the police.
Leng said the Judiciary Police told Lam to report to a police station on Thursday to assist in the investigation. Lam refused to cooperate with the police and denied that she and the victim are a couple.
Lam has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing a fraud charge involving a considerable amount, officially defined as exceeding 150,000 patacas, according to Leng.
