Judiciary Police (PJ) spokeswoman Lei Hon Nei said in a regular press briefing on Monday that two men from the mainland have been arrested for their involvement in a “practice banknote” deception case, scamming a mainland victim out of a total of 1.13 million yuan (1.25 million patacas) in an online bank transfer.
The suspects are a 27-year-old man surnamed Wei and a 34-year-old woman surnamed Zhang. They were illegal money exchange dealers.
According to Lei, on Friday afternoon the victim struck a deal online through WeChat with a male stranger who informed him that Zhang and Wei would approach him for the transaction in a Cotai hotel. The victim then transferred 1.13 million yuan to the duo through online banking, while Wei handed stacks of banknotes to the victim in return.
The victim stopped the duo when he discovered that the cash consisted of “practice banknotes”, and alerted hotel security guards. The police arriving at the scene found 799 “practice banknotes” on the duo.
The pair claimed they were unaware that the notes were “practice banknotes”. They told the police that they were “instructed” by the man who had contacted the victim through WeChat to carry out the deal, and both said they had received 500 patacas for the “job”.
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).
Zhang and Wei have been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing fraud charges, Lei said, adding that the police were still investigating the identity of the man who contacted the victim and instructed the duo.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokeswoman Lei Hon Nei looks on during Monday’s regular press conference.
– Photo: William Chan
