The Judiciary Police (PJ) busted a “guess who I am” phone fraud case on Tuesday, in which a 28-year-old Hong Kong man was caught red-handed when his female victim was handing 90,000 patacas to him outside a restaurant on Rotunda de Carlos da Maia (popularly known as “Three Lamps”), PJ spokesman Lei Chi Hou said during a special press conference yesterday.
Under questioning, the suspect surnamed Cheung, who entered Macau via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HZMB) checkpoint on Tuesday, admitted that he was “hired” by a Hong Kong fraud gang to collect money from its victims in Macau by pretending to be a “lawyer”, adding that he had been promised 10 percent of the cash that he succeeded in collecting each time.
According to Lei, a member of the gang purporting to be the son of the local victim, who is in her eighties, called her home land line on Sunday, claiming that he had been arrested for attacking others so that he needed 100,000 patacas for compensation to the injured. The “son” then required the victim to get the money in cash for him, and not to tell anyone about the call.
Lei pointed out that after handing the 100,000 patacas in cash to a man claiming to be a lawyer outside a bank on the “Three Lamps” roundabout on Monday, the victim received, on the same day, a call from the “son” again who required her to hand over to another “lawyer” an additional 90,000 patacas for the “medical fees of the injured”.
The victim reported the case to the Judiciary Police on Monday after she had confirmed that the calls were not from her real son, Lei said, adding that as instructed by the “son”, through a call on Tuesday morning, to hand 90,000 patacas in cash to another “lawyer” outside a restaurant on Rotunda de Carlos da Maia, the victim met Cheung that afternoon during a surveillance operation set up by the Judiciary Police. Cheung, who told the police that he works as a barman, was caught red-handed.
Cheung claimed that he did not know the “lawyer” who had received 100,000 patacas in cash from the victim earlier, according to Lei, who noted that Cheung was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing charges of fraud involving a considerably large amount of money and organised crime.
The Judiciary Police were still tracing the whereabouts of the first “lawyer” at the time of the press conference.
A similar case was announced by the Judiciary Police last Friday (as reported by The Macau Post Daily on Monday).
Lei urged the public during the press conference not to pay cash or transfer money even if they receive a call from someone claiming to be their family member or friend, but always remain calm and verify the authenticity of the caller first.
The hooded fraud suspect from Hong Kong is escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers to a PJ vehicle outside the PJ headquarters in Zape yesterday. – Photo: Yuki Lei
