Alocal fugitive allegedly involved in seven fraud cases was transferred toMacaubytheGuangdongPublic Security Department on Monday, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chong Kam Leong said at a special pressconferenceintheareabetween Zhuhai’s Gongbei and Macau’s Barrier Gate checkpoints.
The 28-year-old jobless suspect is surnamed Tou.
According to Chong, seven locals (six men and a woman), who are in their twenties and fifties, reported to the Judiciary Police between January and last month that they fell victim to online shopping scams, reporting losses ranging from 10,000 to 100,000 patacas, totalling 360,000 patacas.
Chong said PJ officers investigating the case discovered that Tou had gone to the mainland last December.
From there he circulated posts on social media such as selling famous-brand cars, luxury watches and hotel banquets at low prices as well as assisting in arranging Macau and Guangdong dual number plates, to defraud the victims by asking them to pay deposits.
According to Chong, the investigating officers also discovered that Tou’s police records in 2016 and 2017 showed his involvement in a number of fraud cases, as well as a sexual coercion case for which an arrest warrant was issued by Macau’s judicial authorities in March. Since Tou left Macau last December, the Judiciary Police requested the Guangdong Public Security Department to assist in the investigation. Tou was arrested in Zhongshan on Sunday.
Chong said that the police investigation revealed that Tou claimed that he was selling luxury goods and services at low prices through online posts and defrauded the victims by telling them to pay deposits into a local account. Tou then transferred the money online into a mainland account from which he withdrew the money. When the victims discovered that their online orders failed to materialise, they reportedtheirsuspicionstothepolice.
The police believe that Tou committed the crimes alone, and the police are continuing their investigation into the case and looking for the whereabouts of the ill-gotten money, according to Chong.
Guangdong Public Security Department officers transfer the hooded local fraud suspect to the Judiciary Police (PJ) on Monday in the area between Zhuhai’s Gongbei and Macau’s Barrier Gate checkpoints. Photos courtesy of TDM
Guangdong Public Security Department and Judiciary Police officers shake hands during Monday’s fugitive transfer signing ceremony in the area between Zhuhai’s Gongbei and Macau’s Barrier Gate checkpoints.
