A man from the mainland has been arrested for allegedly allowing a scammer to use his bank account which was then used for laundering money linked to an online sexual extortion scam, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Leng Kam Lon said at a special press conference yesterday.
The 32-year-old suspect surnamed Huang is a chef.
According to Leng, a local man told the police in June that he had been blackmailed after a nude online chat with a female, who threatened to send nude photos of him to people on his mobile phone contact list. He paid the fraudsters a total of 128,000 patacas, and later reported the case to the police.
While tracking the money, the police discovered that Huang’s bank account had received money from the victim. Leng noted that Huang was a non-resident worker (NRW) in Macau when he opened the bank account for the fraud gang to launder money, and the money had been withdrawn by gang members.
He was arrested at the Barrier Gate checkpoint on Tuesday. Under questioning, he refused to cooperate.
Huang was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing charges of money laundering and fraud, Leng said.
The hooded money-laundering suspect is being escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers from the PJ headquarters in Zape to a vehicle yesterday. – Photo: William Chan
