Male suspect uses HK$20 banknote as secret code
A local couple were arrested last Monday for cheating a mainlander out of HK$2.2 million in a currency exchange deal late last month, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chan Wun Man said at a press briefing yesterday.
The couple are both surnamed Lei. The husband is 53 years old while his wife is aged 50. Both work as casino dealers.
According to Chan, a man from the mainland reported to the Judiciary Police on January 29 that he was cheated by a currency exchange group out of HK$2.2 million.
He had cashed a HK$2.2 million cheque at a bank branch in Toi San district late last month as payment for a construction project.
The victim told the police that he had had several deals with the group previously and so he contacted them again as he wanted to exchange the HK$2.2 million into yuan. He and the group agreed on a deal of 1.804 million yuan. Since the members of the group contacted by the victim were not in Macau they asked the male suspect (Lei) to proceed with the deal on their behalf, saying that Lei would show the victim a HK$20 banknote with a specific serial number as a secret code to confirm his identity.
Chan said that the victim met the male suspect on January 28 near the Barrier Gate checkpoint and the latter showed him the HK$20 banknote. The victim confirmed Lei’s identity through the banknote’s serial number and by contacting the group, after which he gave him the HK$2.2 million in cash. Lei left after receiving the money and the victim went to Zhuhai and waited outside a hotel to receive the yuan. However, no one showed up, and the victim was unable to contact the group. The victim suspected that he had been cheated and returned to Macau the next day to report the case to the police.
According to Chan, the Judiciary Police identified Lei as the male suspect and located him. PJ officers arrested the couple near the Barrier Gate checkpoint last Monday and retrieved HK$810,000 in cash from them. The officers later seized HK$1.254 million and 7,100 yuan at their home near the checkpoint. The couple refused to cooperate with the police, but the victim confirmed that Lei was the male suspect.
Chan said that the Judiciary Police scrutinised CCTV footage which confirmed that Lei was the man who received the HK$2.2 million cash from the victim. At the same time, the police seized the HK$20 banknote from Lei’s wife which had been used to confirm the identity of her husband during the deal.
The Leis were transferred to the Public Prosecution Office (MP) last Wednesday, facing charges of abuse of trust, involving a considerable huge amount of money, officially defined as exceeding 150,000 patacas, according to Chan.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chan Wun Man looks on during yesterday’s press conference at a Public Security Police (PSP) pressroom. Photo: Camy Tam
