A mainland woman was arrested on Wednesday for defrauding an 80-year-old local woman out of 350,000 yuan (439,270 patacas) to invest in a purported fruit shop business last year, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokeswoman Lei Hon Nei said at a press conference on Friday.
The 55-year-old suspect surnamed Deng told the police that she is a housewife.
According to Lei, the victim reported the case to the Public Security Police (PSP) in March who then notified the Judiciary Police on March 28. The victim told the police that she worked in a guesthouse in the city centre before retiring and had met Deng who frequently stayed at the guesthouse during that time. Last August, Deng told the victim that she had worked in a fruit shop near Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport and the shop’s business was quite satisfactory. As the owner was planning to sell the shop, Deng urged the victim to invest with her, and each of them would invest 350,000 yuan. The victim gave Deng 350,000 yuan last September for which Deng signed a letter of undertaking stating that in case the deal was unsuccessful, she would return the invested amount to the victim.
Lei said Deng told the victim after one month that the fruit shop’s business was unstable and she decided to postpone the investment plan and therefore would return the victim’s investment to her. However, the victim never received any money from Deng so she reported the case to the police in March.
According to Lei, PJ officers arrested Deng on Wednesday when she was about to leave Macau via the Barrier Gate checkpoint. Under questioning, Deng admitted to defrauding the victim and claimed she had gambled away all the filthy lucre.
Deng has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing charges of fraud involving a considerable amount, officially defined as exceeding 150,000 patacas, according to Lei.
