Three men from the mainland have separately been arrested for their involvement in two currency exchange-related fraud cases, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lei Chi Hou said during a regular press conference yesterday.
In the first case, the suspects are a 26-year-old man surnamed Liu and a 40-year-old man surnamed Wu. They are both currency exchange dealers.
According to Lei, the male victim encountered the duo at a Cotai hotel resort lobby on Monday and engaged in a currency transaction, where the victim agreed to give HK$170,000 in cash to Liu while the latter was supposed to transfer 200,000 yuan to the victim’s account online. Liu initially transferred 102,000 yuan to the victim through online banking.
A few moments later, the victim had still not received the funds but was pressured by the duo to hand over the cash. Growing suspicious, the victim sought assistance from a policeman who happened to be nearby.
When the policeman was questioning Liu about what was going on, the victim received a notification on his phone indicating that he had received 102,000 yuan. However, the message also stated that the funds involved were fraudulent and had subsequently been frozen. Wu escaped the scene but was apprehended later that day at a casino in Taipa.
Under questioning, the duo told the police that they had been instructed by a mainland gang to transfer fraudulent funds as part of a scam operation. The gang had promised to pay them 600 yuan for every 10,000 yuan transferred to potential victims.
In the second case, the 42-year-old suspect surnamed Sun told the police that he’s jobless.
According to Lei, last November the victim and Sun engaged in a currency exchange deal at a hotel room in Cotai. The victim transferred 187,000 yuan to Sun, who promised to pay him HK$200,000 in cash in exchange. However, Sun then claimed that he needed to leave the room to get the cash, but he never returned. The victim eventually lost contact with Sun and reported the case to the police.
Sun was arrested when he re-entered Macau through the Hengqin checkpoint on Tuesday. He admitted to scamming the victim, claiming that he had gambled away all the ill-gotten money.
The three suspects have been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing fraud charges, Lei said.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lei Chi Hou looks on during yesterday’s regular press conference.
– Photo: William Chan
