A Vietnamese domestic helper reported to the police recently that she was cheated by her “online boyfriend” out of 52,000 patacas, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Ho Chan Nam said at a press briefing on Friday.
According to Ho, the victim told the police that she met a male netizen on July 4 on a social media app, and they later became online lovers. Her “boyfriend” told her that he was a “soldier” fighting in a war in a foreign country. He also told the victim he was afraid that he would die in battle so he asked her to take care of his money and documents which he would send to her.
Ho said a purported courier company employee later contacted the victim saying that a parcel was to be delivered to her but taxes needed to be paid in order to receive the parcel. The victim then followed the instructions and remitted 48 million Vietnamese dong, equivalent to 17,000 patacas, to a bank account in Vietnam.
Afterwards, she was asked to remit money again for different reasons. The victim transferred a total of 100 million Vietnamese dong, equivalent to 35,000 patacas, in four remittances to a Vietnamese bank account after which she was asked to remit even more money. However, the victim ran out of money and never received the parcel. She finally realised that she had been cheated and decided to report the case to the police on Wednesday.
