A domestic helper scammed a waitress by claiming that she could make a profit through parallel trading, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chan Wun Man said in a regular conference yesterday.
Both press the suspect and the victim are non-resident workers (NRWs) from the mainland, Chan said, adding that the 36-year-old suspect is surnamed Li.
According to Chan, Li was a regular customer at the restaurant where the victim works. Li told the waitress on November 20 that her employer owns a parallel trading shop who currently lacks liquidity. Li claimed that for every 150,000 yuan (170,000 patacas) invested the victim could make a profit of 30,000 yuan.
The victim then borrowed 120,000 yuan from a mobile loan app and gave a total of 150,000 yuan to Li last Thursday.
After a few days the victim asked for her money back. Li then sent three “receipts” which showed that a purported total of 100,000 yuan had been transferred to the victim. The victim soon discovered that the receipts were fake. Li kept making excuses to delay the payment, leading the victim to report the incident to the police on Sunday.
Li was found hiding in a hotel guestroom in Nape and was arrested on Monday.
Under questioning, Li admitted scamming the victim, as well as three other victims, all of them in the mainland, out of 92,000 yuan. Li claimed that she had gambled away all the ill-gotten money.
Li was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) on Tuesday, facing charges of fraud and document forgery, Chan said.
