A man from the mainland was arrested on Friday for cheating six victims out of more than 5.4 million patacas for the purported purchase of luxury goods and a currency exchange deal while his wife – his alleged accomplice – was still on the run at the time of the press conference, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chong Kam Leong said at a special press conference yesterday.
The 36-year-old suspect surnamed Yang told the police that he works as a hotel manager in the mainland. The Judiciary Police believe that his local wife surnamed Tang is lying low in the mainland.
According to Chong, the first victim reported to the police earlier this year that a woman surnamed Tang had cheated him or her out of four million patacas. The victim told the police that Tang claimed that she worked for a duty-free shop and she could purchase luxury items at 25 percent staff discount. The victim transferred over 4 million yuan (5 million patacas) to the couple’s mainland bank account in two remittances between last November and March. However, the victim only received a few items and therefore asked for a refund. Tang refused to return the money to the victim.
Chong said another victim from the mainland reported a loss of over 900,000 yuan (1.13 million patacas) to the police during the investigation of the first case. The victim told the police that he or she got to know the couple in Zhuhai in May. Tang claimed that she worked for a luxury brand shop in Macau and that she could help purchase goods for the victim, who later transferred more than 900,000 yuan to the couple’s mainland bank account in September to purchase six luxury watches and a luxury handbag. However, when the victim subsequently came to Macau to collect the supposedly purchased items at the shop, the sales assistant told him or her that Tang was not a staff member there and there were no purchase orders from him or her in the shop’s records.
According to Chong, another victim reported to the police that Tang had cheated him or her in a currency exchange deal out of HK$30,000 and 130,000 patacas in the purported purchase of smartphones. The victim told the police that Tang claimed that she worked as a public relations staff for a casino VIP room. Tang told the victim that she could exchange currency at a favourable rate and also could exchange the VIP room’s bonus points for the latest smartphone models. The victim agreed to exchange 100,000 yuan for more than HK$120,000. The victim could only get back HK$90,000 and reported a loss of total 130,000 patacas for the purported purchase of the smartphones.
Chong said that two sisters surnamed Chan and another female victim reported to the police earlier this month that they had been cheated by Tang out of 170,000 patacas to purchase four luxury handbags. The victims were unable to contact Tang after they paid her.
According to Chong, the Judiciary Police identified the couple as the suspects. PJ officers discovered that Tang cheated the victims who had transferred the money to the couple’s bank account in the mainland. Yang (Tang’s husband) helped transfer the money to various accounts to cover up the ill-gotten money. The Judiciary Police arrested Yang when he entered Macau via the Barrier Gate checkpoint on Friday afternoon. Under questioning, Yang told the police that he did not know anything and refused to reveal the whereabouts of the victims’ money. PJ officers are continuing their investigation into the case and are looking for Tang as well as the money.
Yang was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday morning, facing fraud and money laundering charges, according to Chong.
The hooded fraud suspect is escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers from the PJ headquarters to a PJ vehicle yesterday.
Video grab courtesy of TDM
