A local woman in her thirties has been defrauded out of 320,000 patacas by her online “friend”, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lou Chan Fai said during a regular press conference yesterday.
According to Lou, the victim met a male who claimed to be from the UK on a social media platform in January 2022, and they became online friends. A few days later the man told the victim that he wanted to visit her in Macau and asked for her local address to send her his luggage, Lou said, adding that the victim soon received a call from a “logistics company staff member” saying that the luggage had been confiscated and demanded she pay 17,000 patacas, which the victim did.
Lou said that in February 2022 the man’s purported mother contacted the victim and claimed that she had been sick and asked the victim for money. The victim then transferred 240,000 patacas in Bitcoins to her. In June, a “barrister” who claimed to represent her online male friend contacted her, claiming that her “friend” was under arrest and requested her help. The victim transferred tens of thousands of patacas to the “barrister”.
Early this month, the victim received an email from another “lawyer” claiming that her “male online friend” had passed away and left her an inheritance, but she needed to pay a “processing fee” first to receive it. The victim finally suspected that she was being scammed and reported the case to the police on Sunday, Lou said.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lou Chan Fai looks on during yesterday’s regular press conference.
– Photo: William Chan
