Camy Tam
A man from the mainland was arrested on Saturday at the Hengqin border checkpoint for cheating a mainland businesswoman out of six pieces of jade worth 2.35 million yuan, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chan Wun Man said at a press conference yesterday.
The 44-year-old suspect surnamed Zhang told the police that he is a businessman.
According to Chan, a 50-year-old businesswoman from the mainland engaged in the jade business in the mainland reported to the police on April 5, 2015 that she had been cheated by a man who claimed that he could assist her in selling six pieces of jade worth 2.35 million yuan to wealthy buyers in 2014. She told the police that she met Zhang through a friend in October 2014 in the mainland. Zhang told her that he worked for a casino VIP room in Macau and was involved in casino chip exchange activities. He also claimed that he knew many rich people in Macau and in the mainland and that he could assist her in finding buyers and asked her to pay him a commission. He had sold three pieces of jade for the victim in October and November 2014. Zhang told the victim in December 2014 that as the Chinese New Year was approaching and many people were interested in buying jade for the festive period, she should bring some pieces of jade to Macau as he could arrange some buyers.
Chan said the victim brought 30 pieces of jade to Macau on December 30, 2014. After arriving, he arranged for her to stay in a hotel guestroom in the city centre. Zhang claimed that several “bosses” wanted to take a look at the jade, and he took six pieces worth 2.35 million yuan that he claimed he would show to the potential buyers.
However, afterwards he came up with excuses and never returned the six pieces of jade to the victim. He falsely claimed that the jade was confiscated by the police for investigation, and later the victim was unable to contact him. She finally realised that she had been cheated and reported the case to the police.
According to Chan, the Judiciary Police identified Zhang but he did not have an entry and exit immigration record. The police suspected that he had illegally entered Macau and after committing the crime had illegally exited Macau en route to the mainland. Zhang was arrested when he legally entered Macau via the Hengqin checkpoint on Saturday afternoon. Zhang admitted that he had defrauded the victim out of the six pieces of jade in 2014 and that after returning to the mainland he had pawned all the pieces for 700,000 yuan which he spent on his daily expenses.
Zhang was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) on Monday, facing fraud charges, according to Chan.
