Two women from the mainland have separately been arrested for their involvement in two currency exchange-related fraud cases, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Ho Chan Nam said during a regular press conference yesterday.
In the first case, the 38-year-old suspect surnamed Gong told the police that she’s jobless.
According to Ho, on Sunday the victim wished to acquire some Hong Kong dollars for gambling and contacted an illegal currency exchange dealer, who asked Gong to go to the victim’s hotel guestroom to exchange the currency there.
Gong showed a QR code to the victim and instructed him to scan it. After the victim transferred the yuan to the account indicated by Gong, however, she told the victim that she had no Hong Kong dollars with her and that she had lost contact with the person who instructed her to meet the victim. The victim then reported the case to the police.
Under questioning, Gong told the police that she was promised 100 yuan by the gang to carry out the bogus deal, but she had not received the money yet.
In the second case, the 42-year-old suspect surnamed Wang told the police that she’s jobless. Wang and the male victim are friends.
According to Ho, on Saturday the victim had won Hong Kong dollars gambling in a casino and wanted to exchange his winnings into yuan. Upon learning of this, Wang reached out to the victim, offering her assistance in converting the victim’s winnings into yuan through an illegal currency exchange deal.
Trusting his friend, the victim met Wang in his hotel guestroom and gave her HK$170,000 in cash. Wang then claimed that she first needed to acquire yuan and left the room. Subsequently, the victim lost contact with her and promptly reported the case to the authorities.
Wang was arrested on Sunday when she attempted to leave Macau through the airport checkpoint. Under questioning, she told the police that she had gambled away HK$100,000 but refused to disclose the whereabouts of the remaining loot.
The two suspects have been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing fraud charges, Ho said.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Ho Chan Nam looks on during yesterday’s press conference. – Photo: William Chan
