Scammer claims to work on ship in Indian Ocean
A 49-year-old local woman has been cheated out of 64,400 yuan (79,700 patacas) in an online dating scam, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Ho Chan Nam said at a press briefing on Monday.
According to Ho, the divorced victim reported to the Judiciary Police on Saturday that she met a netizen called “Eddie Yau” on June 1 on a social media app. “Eddie” told the victim that he works as a shipwright on a vessel moored on the western shores of the Indian Ocean.
They continued their communication via WeChat and they became online lovers. “Eddie” told the victim that he was going to retire and after selling his assets, he would move to China and marry her. However, “Eddie” told her that pirates were rampant in the western Indian Ocean and he asked her to take care of his valuables which he would put in a suitcase and send to her.
Ho said the victim provided her address to her “online boyfriend” who soon asked her to pay 2,500 euros (23,550 patacas) as a purported customs fee for him after which the victim transferred online the equivalent of 16,400 yuan (2,160 euros) to an account provided by “Eddie” who later claimed that the “suitcase” containing about US$400,000 in cash had been seized by the Malaysian customs, which told him to pay 6,000 euros as deposit as proof that he was not involved in money laundering.
The victim transferred the equivalent of 48,000 yuan into the account provided by “Eddie” who then demanded an advance of 20,000 euros as handling fee for his suitcase to be released.
When the victim told her “online boyfriend” that she could not afford to pay any more money, “Eddie” told her to sell her assets, otherwise he would be arrested by the police.
As the victim was unable to transfer more money to her “online boyfriend”, she discussed the matter with a friend who told her that she might be the victim of an online scam. The victim then decided to report the case to the police, according to Ho.
