A mainland man was cheated by a “Prince of Dubai” out of 325,000-yuan (372,400 patacas) in a scam involving concert tickets, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Leng Kam Lon said during a regular press conference on Friday.
Leng said that the 33-year-old Middle Eastern suspect, surnamed Haq, is a Hong Kong resident.
According to Leng, the victim reported to the Judiciary Police last Tuesday that he had been cheated by a man who claimed to be a “Prince of Dubai” out of a total of 325,000 yuan over several occasions during his visit to Macau in November last year. The suspect, who the victim met for the first time at a hotel restaurant, told him that he could exchange concert tickets with his casino bonus points, claiming that the victim could purchase the tickets at a low price and resell them at the nominal ticket price to earn the difference.
After paying Haq more than 16,000 yuan for 28 concert tickets, the “Prince of Dubai”, who claimed that “he is in the jewellery business and has a lot of connections”, persuaded the victim to invest in a company, Leng said, adding that the victim, without signing any contract or document, paid Haq 40,000 yuan in cash and then transferred 269,000 yuan to his bank account as “a stake in the company”.
The victim eventually lost contact with Haq, according to Leng.
The Judiciary Police identified Haq and arrested him last Tuesday in a casino in Nape, Leng said, adding that the jobless suspect refused to cooperate with the police.
Haq has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing a fraud charge involving a considerable amount of money, Leng noted.
