Duo deny the allegations, blame fugitive suspect
The Judiciary Police (PJ) arrested a local woman and her younger brother last week for allegedly cheating 91 people out of 81 million patacas by persuading them to join a bogus high-return investment scheme, PJ spokesman Lai Chio Hong said during a special press conference on Friday.
The sister-brother team started the scheme in 2015, Lai said.
The duo had left Macau after the 91 victims separately reported to the police in 2016 that they had been cheated in the investment scheme. After leaving Macau, the duo lived in a number of foreign countries as well as in the mainland before returning to Macau on Thursday via the local airport where they were arrested by PJ officers, according to Lai.
According to Lai, the duo cheated the victims in cahoots with a man who was still at large at the time of Friday’s press conference. The trio opened a company registered in Macau falsely indicating that it was running cultural and creative businesses and restaurants – but in reality it did not run any business, and persuaded the victims to join the company’s investment scheme by offering them a high return on their investments.
According to Lai, the siblings deny the allegations against them. Under questioning by the police, the woman claimed that she merely opened the company and its bank accounts for her then boyfriend – the fugitive suspect, while her brother claimed that he merely worked as a driver for the fugitive suspect at that time.
Lai identified the female suspect as a 38-year-old surnamed Chong and her brother as a 37-year-old surnamed Chan. They have different surnames, according to Lai, as Chong has her mother’s surname while Chan has his father’s surname.
The 91 victims comprise 81 locals, eight mainlanders and two Taiwanese.
At the end of June 2016, Lai said, the Judiciary Police received a report from a victim of the scam for the first time who realised that he had been defrauded by the company in a scheme purportedly investing in cultural and creative business and restaurants, after the company issued him a “rubber cheque” of HK$250,000.
‘High’ return of 5 pct every 60 days
According to Lai, the victim told the police that the company had told him in 2015 that it was offering a 60-day investment scheme. The scheme purportedly offered a “high” return of five percent for every 60 days, but with a required minimum investment of HK$50,000 or 50,000 yuan. The victim told the police that under the scheme, the investors were required to submit an application to the company 10 days in advance if they wanted to get the money they had invested into the scheme back before the 60-day period, in which case the company would not give them any return, according to Lai.
The victim also told the police that after each 60-day period, the investors were required to sign a new agreement with the company if they wanted to continue investing in the scheme, Lai said.
Initially after the victim had joined the scheme, he received the promised return from the company regularly. However, in June 2016 the company paid him with a cheque that bounced, which caused him to realise that the company had defrauded him, according to Lai.
Including the victim who was the first to report the case, the Judiciary Police received reports from a total of 91 people in the same and following month about the same fraud case, Lai said.
According to Lai, the 91 victims reported a total loss of 81.38 million patacas, with each of them having lost between 50,000 patacas and 8.1 million patacas.
In their investigation into the case, the police found that all the money in the company’s bank accounts and Chong’s personal bank account had already been withdrawn, Lai said. The police also discovered that two shareholders of the company, Chong and Chan, had meanwhile left Macau.
In Czech Republic, NZ & mainland
Under questioning following their arrest at the local airport on Thursday, Chong and Chan told the police that they left Macau upon the request of the person-in-charge of the company – i.e. Chong’s then boyfriend – who told them to meet him outside Macau, where he told them that the company was “in trouble” and persuaded them not to return to Macau, according to Lai, who said that consequently the duo lived in a number of foreign countries such as the Czech Republic and New Zealand as well as in the mainland, before returning to Macau on Thursday.
The Judiciary Police are now looking for the ill-gotten money and the fugitive suspect, Lai said.
Chong and Chan have been transferred to the Public Prosecution Office (MP) for further questioning and investigation.
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the two hooded fraud suspects into a PJ vehicle outside the PJ headquarters in Zape on Friday. Photo: MPDG
