The Judiciary Police (PJ) and their mainland counterparts busted in a joint operation on March 17 a fraud gang involved in at least 54 “practice banknotes” scams, amounting to about 7.38 million patacas, PJ spokesman Chan Wun Man said during a special press conference on Friday.
According to Wikipedia, a practice banknote is generally similar in size, shape and colour to circulating banknotes and is used for training bank tellers, cashiers and staff at currency exchanges.
According to Chan, 12 suspected gang members aged between 22 and 43, including the 37-year-old alleged mastermind surnamed Ding, were arrested in various regions in the mainland on March 17.
Chan said that among the 12 mainland suspects – 11 men and a woman, eight were from Shaanxi, three from Heilongjiang and one from Guangdong, adding that during the operation, the mainland police seized evidence such as a large number of practice banknotes, mobile phones and bank cards.
In conjunction with the operation, Chan said, from March 17 to the end of that month, 32 PJ officers were deployed to conduct special patrols in and around casino-hotel resorts in Cotai, during which the officers transferred 34 illegal currency exchange dealers from the mainland and an overstaying mainlander to the Public Security Police (PSP) for follow-up investigation.
Members of the gang, who had been recruited from various provinces and cities in the mainland, were given “specific” instructions by the gang, Chan said, adding Ding targeted his victims via a mobile communication app and then manipulated some of his fellow gang members to smuggle “practice banknotes” from Zhuhai to Macau, mixed with a small number of genuine banknotes to exchange them with their victims. Some of the gang members were tasked with transferring the money they received from the victims to a mainland mobile bank and withdraw it there, according to Chan.
Considering that fraud cases involving practice banknotes have occurred frequently in recent years in Macau, and by analysing the modus operandi and case details that occurred between April 17, 2021 and March 9 this year, the Judiciary Police suspect that at least 54 “practice banknotes” scams were committed by the gang, according to Chan, who pointed out that during the period, the Judiciary Police arrested 61 mainlanders and seized 9,352 practice banknotes.
A total of 51 illegal currency exchange dealers who used practice banknotes to defraud their victims were remanded in custody during the period, Chan said.
Evidence such as practice banknotes seized by the Judiciary Police (PJ) is displayed at the PJ headquarters on Friday. – Photo courtesy of TDM
