A local gambler was arrested on Tuesday for cheating a mainland man out of HK$902,900 in a currency exchange scam, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Leng Kam Lun said at a regular press conference on Wednesday.
The 32-year-old jobless suspect is surnamed Ng.
According to Leng, a local man reported to the Judiciary Police last month that his mainland friend had been cheated by a local man surnamed Ng out of HK$902,900 last month. The man told the police that his friend, a mainlander, needed to exchange Hong Kong dollars into yuan urgently in January. The man said Ng had struck two exchange deals with him before so he introduced Ng to his friend.
Leng said the victim remitted HK$902,900 to Ng’s local bank account on February 9, stating that HK$2,900 was “tea money” (gratuity) for the deal. After the transfer, Ng did not contact the victim and after a few days he asked Ng when he could get the yuan. Ng told the victim that he had gambled away all the money but promised that he would find a way of repaying him. Ng disappeared soon afterwards. The man felt guilty that his friend had been defrauded and reported the case to the police on behalf of his friend.
According to Leng, Ng was arrested on Tuesday for another suspected crime, and was transferred to the Judiciary Police for questioning about the currency transfer case, which he admitted to.
Ng was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) on Tuesday, facing abuse of trust and fraud charges, according to Leng.
