A local university student has been arrested for his alleged involvement in an online scam case, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Cheong Kim Fong said in a special press conference yesterday.
The 19-year-old male suspect is surnamed Chu.
According to Cheong, a local woman read a post about an online “part time” job last month and contacted the website staff. The staff told her that she could get a return for “liking” and writing comments for various posts on a certain website. She then created an account on that website and entered her bank account, password and verification code.
The victim initially received 686 patacas in return and continued doing her “part time” job until Tuesday, when she discovered that a total of 100,000 patacas had been transferred on 101 occasions from her bank account.
According to Cheong, the victim reported the case to the police on Tuesday. The Judiciary Police promptly contacted the bank and halted the transfer of 94,000 patacas using emergency safeguarding measures.
The police also discovered that the money had been transferred to Chu’s account, and he was summoned to a police station for questioning on Tuesday.
Under questioning, he claimed that “someone” had used his account to receive the money without his knowledge. However, police discovered that Chu had used 5,000 patacas of the ill-gotten money to purchase game cards and other items for himself.
Chu was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing a fraud charge, according to Cheong.
The 19-year-old suspect is being escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers to a PJ vehicle outside the PJ headquarters in Zape yesterday. – Photo: Ada Lei
