The Judiciary Police (PJ) have arrested two mainlanders on suspicion of cheating two local senior citizens out of a total of 360,000 patacas in separate “guess whom I am” scams, PJ spokesman Lou Chan Fai announced the case details at a special press conference yesterday.
The two victims – a male and a female – reported their respective losses of 310,000 patacas and 50,000 patacas to the Judiciary Police on Monday, saying that earlier that day they had received calls on their fixed line telephones at home from persons who identified themselves as their “son” and “grandson”, asking for cash to pay bail and compensation for causing physical injury, according to Lou, who noted that the two victims then handed the money, as instructed by their “son” and “grandson”, to each one’s purported “friend” at the victims’ respective homes in the northern district.
According to Lou, the Judiciary Police set up a sting operation in the vicinity of the two victims’ flats on Monday night following the phone call of the “son” and “grandson” again demanding another 200,000 patacas from each of the victims.
In the operation, PJ officers arrested the men, surnamed Liao and Jiang, who are aged 30 and 25 respectively, Lou said, identifying Liao, who told the police that he is unemployed, as the gang’s kingpin giving orders to his downline members, including Jiang.
Under questioning, the two suspects refused to cooperate with the police, but the PJ investigation showed that Jiang had received 500 to 1,000 patacas as “commission” each time he collected the cash from the victims.
The duo were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing charges of organised crime and fraud involving a considerably large amount of money.
The Judiciary Police, according to Lou, are still looking for other possible gang members, at least one of whom was still at large at the time of yesterday’s press conference.
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the hooded mainlanders suspected of “guess who I am” phone scams to a police vehicle outside the PJ headquarters in Zape yesterday. – Photo: Yuki Lei
