Two mainlanders’ bank accounts have been frozen after separately exchanging Hong Kong dollars into yuan with the help of an illegal currency exchange dealer at different casinos in Cotai last Tuesday and Wednesday, reporting their respective losses of HK$150,000 and HK$110,000 to the police, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chong Kam Leong said yesterday.
According to the male duo’s separate reports, Chong added, both of their bank accounts were frozen by the mainland’s Public Security Bureau (PSB) after they had exchanged money with the help of a 27-year-old mainland man surnamed Mo. As they suspected that they had been exploited by Mo to receive fraudulent money through the currency exchange deals, the duo reported their cases to the Judiciary Police.
Chong noted that a PJ investigation identified Mo as the fraud suspect, who was then arrested by the Judiciary Police on Saturday when he was about to leave Macau via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HZMB) checkpoint. In the operation, according to Chong, PJ officers discovered a photo of a forged ID card on the suspect’s mobile phone, which had been shown to the victims during the currency exchange deals.
The Judiciary Police, according to Chong, transferred Mo to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, where he faces charges of fraud, money laundering and computer forgery.
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the hooded illegal currency exchange dealer from the mainland suspected of fraud, money laundering and computer forgery from the PJ headquarters to a PJ vehicle yesterday. – Photo: Yuki Lei
