The Public Security Police (PSP) arrested on Wednesday two “loan con artists” who, while “soliciting money from passers-by on the street” by claiming that they had lost all their money in local casinos and could not afford to buy meals, cheated a local woman out of 4,000 patacas.
According to a regular police press conference on Friday, the two fraudsters from the mainland are a man and a woman in their forties, surnamed Zhang and Zhao respectively.
On Wednesday, the Public Security Police received a report from a victim who recounted that she had met the two suspects by chance on Rua de Nam Keng in Taipa the previous day. A PSP spokesperson quoted the victim as noting that during their interaction, the duo told her that their bank account had been frozen and asked her to lend them 4,000 patacas, promising to repay her the next day once the account was unfrozen. Moved by their story, the victim exchanged contact information with them and went to the bank to withdraw the money for them. However, the spokesperson added, when she contacted them the next day to request repayment, they came up with repeated excuses, leading her to suspect she had been scammed and to seek police assistance.
The PSP spokesperson noted that, thanks to their citywide CCTV camera system, officers identified the two suspects and arrested them at Alameda Dr. Carlos D’Assumpção in Nape.
Under questioning, the duo admitted that due to gambling losses, they had defrauded passers-by by appealing to their sympathy. The police seized a total of nearly 20,000 patacas in cash from the two suspects.
The two suspects have been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing a fraud charge.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) on Friday shows the two suspected “loan con artists” being escorted to a police station.
