A mainland woman was arrested on Saturday for cheating six mainlanders in Macau out of 98,400 yuan (124,000 patacas) in bogus purchase deals for a number of smartphones and handbags, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokeswoman Lei Hon Nei said at a special press conference on Sunday.
According to Lei, the Judiciary Police believe that the suspect also cheated more than 20 other victims.
The 25-year-old suspect surnamed Liu told the police that she is unemployed.
According to Lei, the six victims are mainlanders who are working or studying in Macau. One of them went to the police on November 11 and told them that she got to know Liu via a social media chat group in October where she could buy smartphones at a favourable price. She contacted Liu and bought a smartphone. On November 3, the victim asked Liu to buy two more smartphones and then paid her 19,000 yuan. However, Liu then came up with different excuses and the victim never received the smartphones so she finally realised that she had been cheated and reported the case to the police.
Lei said that the Judiciary Police launched an investigation based on the information provided by the woman and discovered that many others in the chat group had been cheated by Liu who offered to buy smartphones or handbags for them. PJ officers identified Liu as the suspect and arrested her when she entered the Macau-Hengqin border checkpoint on Saturday. Liu admitted that she had offered the purchase deals in the chat group. She told the police that she had received more than 300,000 yuan from six victims and handed the money to “a man in the mainland” who was supposed to provide her with the goods. She claimed that “the man” was unable to deliver the goods on time. Liu told the police she had partly refunded some the victims but still owed them about 100,000 yuan.
According to Lei, Liu was unable to provide any information about “the man” such as his personal data, their transaction records or text messages between them.
Besides, Lei said, Liu continued to offer her purchase deals in the chatgroup even after she had failed to deliver the promised goods to members of the group.
Lei said that the Judiciary Police contacted the other five victims on December 15. Four of them had placed orders to buy a total of 19 smartphones while one of them had ordered a handbag from Liu. The quintet had paid Liu a total of 266,900 yuan and Liu later refunded some of their money. The five victims reported a total loss of 79,400 yuan.
According to Lei, the Judiciary Police estimate that more than 20 people have been defrauded by the suspect, adding that the police are continuing their investigation into the case, urging the victims to report their cases to the police as soon as possible.
Liu was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) on Boxing Day, facing a fraud charge, according to Lei.
The fraud suspect is being escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers from the PJ headquarters to a PJ vehicle on Boxing Day. – Photo courtesy of TDM
