A local woman was arrested on Monday for fraud and money laundering, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lei Chi Hou said during a special press conference yesterday.
Lei identified the suspect as a 69-year-old part-time salesperson surnamed Lio. The victims are two middle-aged local women.
According to Lei, the police received a report on Saturday from one of the victims, who told police that she met a man through an online chat platform in April and developed an online relationship with him. During their conversations, the man claimed to be knowledgeable about online gambling and offered to teach the victim how to make money through it.
Following his instructions, the victim placed bets on a fraudulent gambling platform. From May to July, the victim deposited a total of 1.32 million patacas into a local bank account as betting funds on 14 separate occasions. To further convince her, the scammer transferred 5,200 patacas into her account to create the illusion of successfully making a profit. However, she was unable to recover all her funds, resulting in a total loss of about 1.31 million patacas.
Lei added that another victim reported a similar fraud case to the police on Sunday. The second victim told the police that she had been defrauded using the same method. She transferred a total of 705,000 patacas to the same bank account over nine transactions. During this period, the scammer had transferred 52,250 patacas to the victim, leading her to believe that she had actually made a profit, resulting in a total loss of 652,750 patacas.
The police later identified Lio as the account holder receiving the fraudulent funds and arrested her on Monday. Lei said that from May to July, Lio’s bank account had received over 3 million patacas, including the funds from both victims, totalling 2 million patacas.
Under questioning, Lio denied the crime, claiming that she had opened the bank account at the request of an online friend and used it to receive and process funds. In return, she was, she claimed, given 8,000 patacas. Lio refused to disclose details of the case or the whereabouts of the funds.
Lio was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing charges of fraud and money laundering.
Lei also reminded the public to be wary of online investment advice from strangers, especially those promising high returns with no risk. Lei said that people should be on guard against schemes that lure individuals with small profits to invest much larger amounts, as this could lead to significant losses. If in doubt, people should use the PJ’s anti-fraud programme to check risk levels or contact the PJ anti-fraud hotline on 8800 7777 or the police hotline on 993 for assistance.
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the hooded suspect to a PJ van outside the PJ headquarters in Zape yesterday. – Photo: Ada Lei
