A local man was arrested on Wednesday at the Barrier Gate checkpoint for cheating 11 mainlanders out of 284,000 yuan (358,000 patacas) in luxury handbag deals, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chan Wun Man said at a special press conference yesterday.
The 28-year-old jobless suspect is surnamed Cheong. He worked for a luxury goods shop in a hotel in Nape for two years until he was fired in April this year.
According to Chan, the Public Security Police (PSP) referred a suspected fraud case to the Judiciary Police on May 7 for follow-up investigation. PJ officers discovered that a dozen mainlanders were defrauded out of a total of 284,000 yuan by Cheong and the shop, which had reported the case to Public Security Police, had to compensate one of the customers for the loss of 15,400 yuan.
Chan said that the shop had received complaints from more than 10 customers since April 24, either via WeChat or email message, that they had placed orders with Cheong to purchase handbags but that they had never received them. The shop found no records of these orders because the customers had contacted Cheong directly.
According to Chan, the shop’s person-in-charge confronted Cheong about the matter. Cheong admitted that he had used the company’s WeChat account to contact the customers and then received payments from them via his personal WeChat, Alipay or with bank transfers. However, after receiving the payments, Cheong never purchased any goods for the customers.
Chan said that one of the victims had remitted a down payment of 15,400 yuan through the shop’s official account, but Cheong transferred the money to his personal bank account. Consequently, the shop was forced to refund the amount to the customer. Cheong told the shop’s person-in charge that he would resolve the matter with the customers himself but the shop continued to receive complaints from customers. In April the person-in-charge decided to fire Cheong and finally reported the case to the police.
According to Chan, the Judiciary Police confirmed that a total of 11 mainland victims were cheated by Cheong, while one of them had placed two orders. Each victim had paid amounts ranging from between several thousand to over 100,000 yuan. The payments totalled 284,000 yuan. Cheong was arrested on Wednesday when he was about to leave Macau via the Barrier Gate checkpoint. Under questioning, Cheong admitted to cheating the victims and claimed that he had spent all the ill-gotten money on his daily expenses.
Cheong was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing a fraud charge, according to Chan.
The hooded fraud suspect is escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers from the PJ headquarters to a PJ vehicle yesterday. Photos: Camy Tam
Evidence seized by Judiciary Police (PJ) such as a smartphone and a bank card is displayed at the PJ headquarters yesterday.
