Three mainlanders were arrested for defrauding an 80-year-old local man out of 8,800 patacas when selling him zodiac and commemorative banknotes, Public Security Police (PSP) spokesperson said at a press conference on Friday.
The three jobless suspects are surnamed Zhong, Luo and Wu, aged 24, 31 and 46 respectively.
According to the spokesperson, the victim who earns a living by reselling commemorative banknotes, reported to the Public Security Police last Monday that he had been defrauded by two mainlanders out of 8,800 patacas when buying commemorative banknotes from them. He told the police that the duo (Zhong and Luo) approached him in the afternoon of that day in Avenida de Horta e Costa, telling him that they had commemorative banknotes for sale. The duo showed him 22 stacks of 10-pataca rat and ox zodiac banknotes as well as and 20-pataca banknotes commemorating the 20th Anniversary of the Return to the Motherland. The victim paid the duo 49,190 patacas for the banknotes with a face value of 48,400 patacas. After the two suspects had left the scene, the victim discovered that 880 banknotes with a face value of 10 patacas were missing, resulting in a loss of 8,800 patacas.
PSP officers identified Zhong and Luo and arrested them last Tuesday when they were about to leave Macau via the Barrier Gate checkpoint. They claimed that they had been hired by a man surnamed Wu to travel to Macau to sell the banknotes here. Wu allegedly paid the duo 1,500 patacas after the deal. They claimed that they had handed all the money the victim had paid them to Wu.
The officers identified Wu and arrested him at the Barrier Gate checkpoint later that day. Under questioning, Wu admitted to defrauding the victim but denied having hired Zhong and Luo. He told the police that he had gambled away most of the money the victim had paid. PSP officers later seized commemorative banknotes worth 3,600 patacas from Wu’s hotel guestroom, the spokesperson said.
The trio have been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing a fraud charge, according to the spokesperson.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) shows PSP officers escorting the three fraud suspects to a police station.
This undated handout photo blurred and provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) shows zodiac banknotes and commemorative banknotes seized from the suspects.
