A local man was arrested on Monday for cheating a friend out of 75,400 patacas last year, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lou Chan Fai said at a special press conference yesterday.
The suspect in his twenties surnamed Leong told the police that he works as a salesman.
According to Lou, a local man surnamed Ho in his thirties reported to the Judiciary Police on May 8 this year that he had been cheated by Leong out of over 75,000 patacas last year. The victim told the police that he got to know Leong through a friend several years ago. Leong told him last October that he was planning to set up an educational association called (家園互助會) “Family Mutual Aid Association”. Leong would be chairman and Ho would be vice-chairman. Leong told the victim that he would apply for 80 million patacas from the government and that they would split the money between them.
Lou said that Leong told the victim last October to advance 75,400 patacas to purchase equipment. In March this year, Leong told him that he had received funding from the government and gave him two screenshots of deposit slips totalling about 200,000 patacas. However, the victim said that he never received the money and suspected that he had been defrauded so he reported the case to the police.
According to Lou, the Judiciary Police discovered that Leong had never applied for the establishment of the “association” and confirmed that he had received the 75,400 patacas from the victim. The police also confirmed that the deposit slips of about 200,000 patacas which he had shown the victim were forged screenshots done by a computer.
Lou said that the Judiciary Police arrested Leong on Monday afternoon when he re-entered Macau via the Barrier Gate checkpoint. Police records showed that Leong was involved in three fraud cases between last December and May this year. He had defrauded three female victims out of more than 68,000 patacas. Leong admitted that he had conned the four victims and spent the ill-gotten money on his daily expenses.
Leong was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing charges of fraud and computer forgery, according to Lou.
The hooded fraud suspect is escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers from the PJ headquarters to a PJ vehicle yesterday. Photo courtesy of TDM
Evidence seized from the fraud suspect such as a smartphone and two bank cards is displayed at the Judiciary Police (PJ) headquarters yesterday.
