Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chong Kam Leong told reporters on Saturday that five mainlanders were arrested for cheating a local man out of real cash with 999 HK$1,000 “practice banknotes”.
Chong made the remarks during a special press conference.
According to Chong, the five suspects are Guo, a 34-year-old businessman who is an illegal immigrant; Liu, a 30-year-old jobless man, who has been overstaying in Macau since March 7; Li, a 41-year-old businessman who is also an illegal immigrant; and two more jobless men surnamed Zhang and Guo, aged 31 and 38 respectively. Chong noted that the two illegal immigrants entered Macau together on February 14.
Chong said that the incident was reported on Wednesday evening by a local man who had met a middleman in a casino three days before. They went to a Cotai casino to illegally exchange cash with three of the five suspects. Chong pointed out that the three suspects agreed to exchange one million Hong Kong dollars for the local man’s 816,800 yuan. Chong underlined that the local man did not check the cash in the bag in which he was handed the banknotes before leaving the hotel. After the local man transferred the money as the three had requested, they all left the hotel together.
Chong said that after getting into a taxi, the local man checked the notes in the bag and discovered that there was only one genuine HKS1,000 banknote and 999 practice banknotes. The local man and the middleman immediately rushed back into the casino to look for the three suspects but failed to find them, Chong said, adding that the middleman then promised the local man that he would help him find the suspects. Chong pointed out that the local man then gave all the banknotes to the middleman but was not able to get any cash in the end. Chong said that the local man then decided to report the case to the police.
According to Chong, the police used CCTV to locate the five men who were staying in hotels in Cotai. Chong noted that on Thursday the police arrested the suspects and found 35 fake stay permits in their guestrooms, which they used to enter casinos, as well as the illegally acquired HK$750,000. The middleman, Chong added, left Macau on Tuesday, after he had tossed the 999 practice notes in the litter bin in his hotel room.
Chong said that the five suspects were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) on Saturday, facing charges such as membership of a criminal organisation, fraud involving a considerably large amount of money, harbouring overstayers or illegal immigrants, and possession of fake documents.
Five mainland men who cheated a local man with 999 practice banknotes out of 816,800 yuan are escorted by the police to a car on Saturday. Photo: Maria Cheang Ut Meng
