Camy Tam
A cage manager was arrested on Thursday for cheating a 44-year-old local woman out of HK$5 million with an accomplice in a gambling investment scam, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lou Chan Fai said at a press conference yesterday.
The 40-year-old suspect is a local woman surnamed Lao.
According to Lou, a woman reported to the Judiciary Police on Thursday morning that she had been cheated out of HK$5 million in a gambling investment scam. She told the police that she had known Lao for three years. Lao introduced a “partner” to the victim at the end of last year. Both convinced the victim to invest HK$5 million in a VIP room in Cotai, promising that she could earn a monthly interest of HK$125,000. The victim deposited HK$5 million into the accomplice’s VIP room account in January.
The victim had received the monthly cash interest of HK$125,000 from January to May totalling HK$625,000 which was given to the suspect by the “partner” who then handed it to her. However, the victim did not receive the interest payments starting from June. The victim tried to contact the suspect but to no avail. She suspected that she had been defrauded and reported the case to the police.
Lou said Lao was arrested by the Public Security Police (PSP) at the Hengqin border checkpoint when she was about to leave Macau in the afternoon of that day. Under questioning, Lao denied that she defrauded the victim, saying that she only followed the instructions of her “partner” to give the victim the interest in cash. She also refused to cooperate with the police. However, PJ officers confirmed that Lao was involved in the case after checking WeChat messages between Lao and her accomplice. The Judiciary Police are continuing their investigation into the case and were still looking for the suspect’s accomplice at the time of yesterday’s press conference.
Lao was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) on Friday, facing a fraud charge, according to Lou.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lou Chan Fai looks on during a press conference at the PJ headquarters yesterday. Photo: Camy Tam
