A local man in his twenties was arrested on October 7 for defrauding seven victims out of over 40,000 patacas since 2019, the Public Security Police (PSP) said in a statement on Saturday.
The statement said that a woman reported to the Public Security Police on October 7 that she had been cheated by a man out of 4,000 patacas. She told the police that the man had told her on September 28 that he needed 4,000 patacas urgently but that his ATM card had exceeded the cash withdrawal limit on that day.
He claimed that he could not go home to take cash as his flat was in a lock down area due to Macau’s latest COVID-19 cluster. He promised the victim that he would go to the bank to transfer 4,000 patacas to her account, asking her to give him, in turn, 4,000 patacas in cash.
According to the statement, the suspect went to the bank and used his ATM card to transfer 4,000 patacas but selected the “cancel transaction” function to obtain a customer slip indicating the cancellation. He gave the bank slip to the victim who thought that the suspect had already transferred the money to her account so she gave the cash to the suspect. When the victim discovered the next day that her account had not been credited with amount, she contacted the suspect who claimed that the transfer would take some time. The victim later suspected that she had been defrauded and decided to report the case to the police on October 7.
The statement said that the Public Security Police identified the suspect on the same day and arrested him at his home. The suspect admitted to committing the crime as he had gambled away all his money. During the investigation, PSP officers discovered that there were six other victims who he had defrauded involving around 36,500 patacas in total.
The officers discovered that the suspect had been using similar ruses to defraud a number of victims since 2019. According to the statement, his trick was to earn sympathy from the victims and told them that he would transfer money to them, in order for them to give him cash. The suspect also used computer software to produce fake photos of bank customer notifications to defraud the victims.
The suspect has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing charges of fraud and document forgery, according to the statement.
The Public Security Police urged the six other victims and anyone else who may have relevant information on the suspect’s fraudulent activities to call the duty officer at the Nam Van PSP Station on 8597 0538 for follow-up investigation.
