A mainland woman has been arrested for cheating a man out of over HK$2.4 million and gambling away all the ill-gotten money, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Leng Kam Lon said in a special press conference yesterday.
The 35-year-old suspect surnamed Luo told the police she’s a customer service manager.
According to Leng, the victim got to know Luo when gambling in a local casino in April 2021, and they became friends. Luo later told the victim that she possessed a large amount of cryptocurrency and intended to trade it for US$6 million (48.5 million patacas). However, she claimed that she had to pay a large amount of “transaction fees” and asked the victim to lend her money temporarily, promising to give him HK$3 million after the deal was completed. The victim transferred 850,000 patacas to Luo’s bank account.
In November 2021, Luo claimed that her account had been hacked and she had lost all her cryptocurrency. She then told the victim that she was inheriting US$8 million from her friend in the United States, and as long as the victim assisted with the “transaction fees”, she promised to pay him HK$6 million after acquiring the inheritance.
Again, the victim transferred 1.58 million patacas to Luo’s bank account. Luo kept coming up with excuses to delay paying back the victim, who eventually lost contact with her last month.
After receiving the report from the victim, the police identified Luo and intercepted her when she was entering Macau through the Hengqin checkpoint on Tuesday.
Under questioning, she admitted to the crimes and claimed that she had gambled away all the ill-gotten money.
Luo has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing fraud charges, Leng said.
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the hooded fraud suspect from the PJ headquarters to a PJ vehicle. – Photo: William Chan
