A local woman reported to the Judiciary Police (PJ) last week that she was cheated by a male netizen out of 40,600 patacas in an online scam this month, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokeswoman Lei Hon Nei said at a press conference on Monday.
According to Lei, the woman reported to the police last week that she was cheated by a male netizen out of 40,600 patacas. The victim told the police that she got to know the netizen through a social media chat app in the middle of last month. The netizen claimed to be a Korean living in the US working in the computer industry.
They soon became online friends. The “Korean friend” told the woman early this month that he would visit Macau and meet her. However, he had a lot of luggage and so he needed to send it to Macau in advance. The man asked the victim for help to advance a “customs clearance fee” of US$5,400 (40,600 patacas).
Lei said that the victim transferred 40,600 patacas on January 7 to a purported express delivery company’s bank account number provided by the man. She later received an email from the company telling her that the luggage had been sent. The “express delivery company staff” sent an email to the victim last Monday to inform her that the luggage contained US$300,000 in cash which required payment of an additional 80,800 patacas customs fee. The victim finally grew suspicious and reported the case to the police.
