A local woman and a man from the mainland have separately been arrested for cheating two locals out of over 270,000 patacas in purchase scams, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lou Chan Fai and Public Security Police (PSP) spokesman Lam Keong said during a regular press conference yesterday.
In the first case, the suspect, a 38-year-old saleswoman named Pang, had previously sold jewellery to the female local victim. In February, the victim intended to buy a luxury necklace from Pang, who assured her a 20 percent discount on the purchase.
The victim handed over 292,800 patacas to Pang but never received the necklace. Following the victim’s enquiries, Pang refunded 80,000 patacas but then the victim lost contact with Pang, leading her to report the incident to the police.
Pang was arrested in her flat on Tuesday. Under questioning, she confessed to defrauding the victim and told the police that she used the money to settle her personal debts.
In the second case, the 40-year-old suspect surnamed Shen is a construction worker.
According to Lam, a local man reported to the police last week that he had been scammed by Shen. The victim had given 58,000 patacas as a deposit to purchase a luxury watch from Shen but lost contact with him thereafter.
Shen was arrested when he re-entered Macau through the Qingmao checkpoint on Friday. Under questioning, he admitted to the crime and said that he had gambled away all the ill-gotten money.
The two suspects have been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing fraud charges.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) yesterday shows the mainland fraud suspect being escorted by PSP officers to a police station in Taipa.
