Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Leng Kam Lon said in a regular press briefing on Monday that two men from the mainland have been separately arrested for their involvement in two “practice banknote” deception cases, scamming their victims out of a total of 650,000 yuan (723,000 patacas) in online bank transfers.
The suspect in the first case is a 34-year-old man surnamed Luo. He told the police that he’s a farmer.
According to Leng, Luo and his accomplice struck a deal with a male mainlander on Saturday in a Cotai hotel lobby, according to which he was to transfer 470,250 yuan to Luo, while Luo was to hand HK$500,000 in cash to the victim in return. After the victim transferred the yuan to Luo through online banking, Luo immediately attempted to leave the scene.
The victim shouted at Luo and alerted hotel security guards who intercepted Luo. The police who arrived at the scene later discovered eight stacks of HK$1,000 practice banknotes on him. Luo claimed that he had been hired by “some people” from the mainland to carry out the swindle in Macau.
Meanwhile, Leng identified the suspect in the second case as a 29-year-old man surnamed Guo. He also claimed to be a farmer.
According to Leng, after Guo and a male mainlander struck a currency exchange deal in a hotel guestroom in Zape, Guo handed stacks of purported HK$1,000 notes to the victim for the 188,000 yuan he paid through an online transfer to Guo. The victim soon realised that the amount received was less than what he had transferred and also suspected that there was an issue with the quality of the banknotes.
The victim demanded the suspect go with him to have them checked at the casino cage. After the cage staff discovered the banknotes were practice notes, they notified the casino’s security guards and PJ officers on duty at the casino to arrest Guo on the spot.
According to Wikipedia, a practice note is generally similar in size, shape and colour to circulating banknotes and are used for training bank tellers, cashiers and staff at currency exchanges. They are generally unofficial and crudely printed, but are occasionally issued by central banks or printers when a new form of paper money is introduced (for example when the euro notes replaced national currency in many European countries). Practice notes have also been created officially by central banks when a new form of currency has been introduced, for example when Australia and New Zealand introduced decimal currency, replacing the pound and pence with dollars and cents.
Luo and Guo have been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office, facing fraud charges, Leng said.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Leng Kam Lon looks on during Monday’s regular press briefing.
– Photo: William Chan
