Two locals and two mainlanders were arrested yesterday in an investigation into a telephone fraud scam, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Leng Kam Lon said in a special conference yesterday.
Leng identified the scam tactic as “guess who I am”, which usually involves swindlers pretending to be a relative or a friend of the victim.
Leng said that the suspects are aged between 30 and 40 years old: the two local men are surnamed Ngai and Iun, while the two mainlanders are surnamed Peng and Wang. Peng is a non-resident worker (NRW) and works as a clerk. Wang and Ngai are drivers, while Iun told the police that he’s jobless.
According to Leng, a local man received a phone call on Sunday from a woman claiming to be his wife, who was in the mainland at that time. The female scammer, who sounded very much like his wife, said that she had lost her mobile phone and needed to use this “new” phone number to contact him.
She called him again the next day and claimed that she needed 100,000 patacas as “bail”, Leng said, adding that the victim then followed her instructions and gave 100,000 patacas to a man, Wang, in the city centre at 1 a.m. that day.
Leng noted that the scammer rang the victim again on Tuesday asking for 50,000 patacas more again as “bail”. The victim finally became suspicious, and after consulting with his family members and reaching his actual wife, he reported the incident to the police later that day.
According to Leng, three other similar cases have been reported where the victims lost 10,000 yuan (11,300 patacas), 20,000 yuan and 57,000 patacas respectively, and the Judiciary Police assume that the deceptions were carried out by the same gang.
Leng added that Wang had been tasked with collecting the money from the victims in two of the three cases, while Iun, Peng and Ngai laundered the money – transferring the victims’ cash through means such as illegal currency exchange dealers and online money transactions.
Leng said that on Tuesday Wang was arrested in a hotel in Nam Van, Ngai and Peng near Estrada do Repouso and Iun in San Kio district. Under questioning, Wang said that he was instructed by a gang in the mainland to collect the money from the victims, adding that he received 9,500 patacas after he collected the 100,000 patacas on Monday.
The quartet was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing fraud, organised crime and money laundering charges according to Leng. The Judiciary Police are continuing their investigation into the case, looking for other possible suspects.
The four suspects are escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers from the PJ headquarters to a PJ vehicle yesterday. – Photo: William Chan
