Trio claim they tried to help ‘bail out wealthy businesswoman’
Three elderly local females have been arrested for separately defrauding five local residents out of 7.12 million patacas, claiming that they used the money to bail a “wealthy businesswoman” out of jail in the mainland, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chan Wun Man said during a special press conference yesterday.
The first suspect is a 56-year-old saleswoman surnamed Mak, the second suspect is a 66-year-old surnamed Leong who said she is jobless, while the third suspect is a 75-year-old retiree surnamed Leong.
The two Leongs are not related.
According to Chan, a woman reported to the police on April 17 that she had been scammed by Mak. She told the police that last year Mak had asked her to invest in a piece of land in the mainland, promising that her investment would be doubled in value. Later, Mak confessed to the victim that the investment was fake, and claimed that the money was actually used to bail out a “wealthy businesswoman”, who promised she would double the money provided to anyone who helped her. The victim then transferred 4.4 million patacas to Mak, and only reported the case to the police in April when the victim’s family noticed the money was missing.
On Tuesday, police officers arrested the three suspects in their respective flats in the city centre.
Under questioning, the trio told the police that together they gave a total of 8.4 million patacas to a “wealthy businesswoman” to bail her out, who promised that they would receive up to 10 times the money they had transferred to her and that Mak would “personally” receive a flat valued at 15 million patacas. The “wealthy businesswoman” later told the trio that the 8.4 million patacas was not enough, leading the trio to defraud the five victims out of a total of 7.12 million patacas to help bail out the “wealthy businesswoman”.
Chan added that the “wealthy businesswoman” signed multiple promissory notes with the trio to make it look authentic.
Chan noted that the police were still looking for the “wealthy businesswoman” who purportedly contacted the trio.
The trio were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing fraud charges, according to Chan.
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the three hooded local suspects to a PJ vehicle from the PJ headquarters yesterday. – Photo: Lisa Li Chi Mang
Evidence seized from the suspects including phones and promissory notes signed by the three suspects and a “wealthy businesswoman” is shown during yesterday’s special press conference at the Judiciary Police (PJ) headquarters.
