Three non-local men aged between 22 and 39 were cheated by a local man out of a total of 1.186 million patacas in an investment scam, according to Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chong Kam Leong.
Chong said during a special press conference yesterday that the Judiciary Police arrested the 26-year-old jobless suspect surnamed Sou when he entered Macau via the Qingmao border checkpoint on Wednesday.
The Judiciary Police received a report from the three victims – two Hong Kong men and a Costa Rican businessman – in April this year that they made the acquaintance of Sou last April, who claimed to be a mobile phone shop owner telling them that “he could buy brand-name mobile phones in advance at a discounted price”, during which Sou persuaded the victims to invest in a purported mobile phone shop by claiming that “they could earn a huge profit by reselling the mobile phones he bought at a discount”, according to Chong.
Chong said that the three victims then gave Sou a total of 1.186 million patacas for the investment, adding that Sou had sent mobile phone screenshots to the trio, which showed that “the Costa Rican victim who invested 830,000 earned 7.2 million patacas, while the two Hong Kong victims who invested a total of 356,000 earned 800,000 patacas”.
As the trio did not receive the transfer payments of the alleged profits from Sou, as well as losing contact with him, they reported the case to the police, according to Chong.
Sou admitted during questioning by the police that in order to trick the victims into the scam, he bought for the victims their specified brand and model of mobile phone at the original price, and then resold them to the victims at a discounted price, making them believe that he was able to get the discount, Chong said.
Sou insisted that all the money he cheated the victims out of had been spent on his daily expenses, Chong added.
According to Chong, Sou was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing fraud charges, involving a considerable amount of money.
The hooded local fraud suspect is escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers from the PJ headquarters in Zape to a PJ vehicle yesterday. – Photo: Yuki Lei
