Police arrested five people after a man reported to the police that a cheap luxury-brand watch he had paid for was never delivered, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Leng Kam Lon said at a regular press conference yesterday.
Leng said that three male mainland suspects, two surnamed Chen and one surnamed Hu, are 29, 32 and 46-years-old respectively. One other Hong Kong male suspect surnamed Wu is 63-year-old, while the last suspect surnamed Chan, 29-year-old Chen’s girlfriend, is 25-year-old who told the police she’s a saleswoman in a casino.
The 32-year-old Chen, a non-resident worker (NRW), is a waiter, while other male suspects are jobless. The male suspects also claimed that they are acquaintances, Leng added.
According to Leng, the victim contacted the 29-year-old Chen on September 10 after seeing an advertisement about a cheap luxury-brand watch, after which the victim agreed to purchase the watch for 600,000 patacas and deposited 400,000 yuan (461,000 patacas) into Chen’s mainland bank account as an initial payment.
Leng said that last Tuesday the victim met the 32-year-old Chen to pay the outstanding amount and to receive the watch in a hotel in Cotai. Chen subsequently sent photos of his ID card and his bank account details to the victim through an app, seeing that the bank account’s name matched that of the ID card the victim was not suspicious. The victim then transferred the outstanding amount of, 138,000 yuan, to Chen, after which Chen said that he would meet the victim again later that day to give him the watch, according to Leng, Chen never appeared and the victim couldn’t contact him anymore.
The victim reported the incident to the police the next day, and PJ officers discovered that the 32-year-old Chen had already left Macau through the Barrier Gate Checkpoint after the victim had paid him, while the police suspected that the 138,000 yuan deposit has been cashed by a currency exchange dealer and handed to the 29-year-old Chen. In addition, the ID card the 32-year-old Chen sent to the victim was fake, Leng said.
The police also found out that the phone number used by the 29-year-old Chen was registered under the name of Wu, Leng said, adding that later PJ officers discovered that Wu was paid a few hundred patacas by Hu for his personal details to register the phone number which was then given to Chen to contact the victim.
The police intercepted the 32-year-old Chen when he returned to Macau at the Barrier Gate checkpoint on Thursday. Meanwhile, Chan, the female suspect, was also called to the police station that day to help find her boyfriend, the 29-year-old Chen. Chan was caught texting her partner covertly at the time of the investigation, Leng said, adding that the text message showed that Chan had told her boyfriend to abscond. The 29-year-old Chen was apprehended near a housing estate in Coloane on Friday.
Under questioning, the Chens admitted the wrongdoing, while Hu and Wu refused to cooperate, Leng said, adding that the quartet face fraud charges, and the 32-year-old Chen also faces a document forgery charge, while Chan faces an adding and abetting charge. The Chens, as well as Hu, Wu, and Chan, were transferred to the Prosecutions Office (MP) on Saturday, according to Leng.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Leng Kam Lon looks on during yesterday’s press conference at the PJ headquarters. – Photo: William Chan
