The Public Security Police (PSP) arrested a man from the Chinese mainland on Sunday for fraud, PSP spokesman Lei Chan Hong said during a regular press conference yesterday.
Lei identified the suspect as a farmer in his fifties surnamed Hu.
According to Lei, the police received a report on Saturday from the employee of a sporting goods shop in Cotai. The employee told the police that Hu had used a HK$1,000 banknote to purchase a pair of socks priced at HK$29. After the employee gave Hu HK$971 in change, Hu claimed that, after all, he had small change and retrieved the HK$1,000 note, claiming it would be easier to give change using coins worth HK$9. During the process of giving change, the employee was distracted by Hu and mistakenly handed over HK$971 in cash to him. Finally realising that he had only received HK$9 and not taken back the HK$971, the employee immediately reported the case to the police.
Through their citywide CCTV surveillance and shop footage, the police identified Hu as the suspect and apprehended him in a hotel guestroom in the city centre on Sunday. Under questioning, Hu denied the crime.
Hu has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing a fraud charge.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) yesterday shows PSP officers escorting the fraud suspect into a police station.
