A local man was arrested on Tuesday for recently cheating five people out of about 310,000 patacas in online scams, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokeswoman Lei Hon Nei said at a special press conference yesterday.
The 25-year-old suspect surnamed Cheong told the police that he works as a casino dealer. The five local victims comprise four men and a woman aged between 21 and 38.
According to Lei, five residents reported separately to the Judiciary Police between December 22 and 28 that they had been cheated out of a total of about 310,000 patacas in online scams. The victims told the police that they came across a social media platform that offered a part-time “placing orders” job.
They contacted the person-in-charge who told them that they were required to purchase goods from a designated shopping website up to a certain amount and then they would get commission between seven and 12 percent on the purchased amount.
The scammers told the victims to add the goods to the website’s shopping cart and take a screenshot of the total money for the goods they had supposedly ordered. However, instead of placing a real order, the money was merely transferred to a designated bank account. Initially, the victims earnt their purported commissions and even received the money for the goods they had ordered, in a ruse to win their trust, Lei said.
According to Lei, the scammers later asked the victims to place more orders but then were unable to get their commission and the money for the ordered goods in return. Instead, the scammers told them to place more orders again in order to get their back money. The victims did so but the scammers then came up with a raft of excuses and never returned any money. The victims finally realised that they had been tricked and reported the cases to the police.
Lei said that the Judiciary Police identified Cheong and arrested him on Tuesday outside a bank branch in the northern district. Cheong admitted that he had let a local male friend use his bank account to receive funds since mid-December. He then transferred the money to a number of bank accounts. His friend promised to pay him 10 percent commission for the transfers totalling over 300,000 patacas credited to his bank account so he received 30,000 patacas from him.
According to Lei, the Judiciary Police also discovered there were other suspicious transfers in Cheong’s account besides the five victims’. The Judiciary Police are looking for the whereabouts of the ill-gotten money and other suspects as well as other possible victims involved in the case.
Cheong was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing fraud and money laundering charges, according to Lei.
The hooded fraud suspect is being escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers from the PJ headquarters to a PJ vehicle in Zape yesterday. Photos: Camy Tam
Evidence seized from the fraud suspect such as a smartphone and cash is displayed at the Judiciary Police (PJ) headquarters yesterday.
