The Judiciary Police (PJ) nabbed a man from the Chinese mainland for defrauding two people out of 7.3 million patacas, PJ spokesman Chao Teng Hin said during a special press conference yesterday.
Chao identified the suspect as a 37-year-old man surnamed Hong who claimed to be jobless. There are two victims in the case, Chao said, adding that both had joined an online group of Hong’s victims and reported the case together.
According to Chao, the duo met Hong over a decade ago and several years ago respectively, adding that starting in April 2024, Hong approached both, claiming to have special connections for investing in mainland real estate and local hotel guestrooms, promising substantial returns.
Believing the claims, Chao said that the two victims transferred a total of 7.85 million patacas to accounts designated by the suspect between April 2024 and October last year.
In October last year, Hong severed contact with the duo, prompting the victims to realise that they had been deceived and reported the matter to the police, according to Chao, adding that after accounting for the purported “interest” of 50,000 patacas and 500,000 patacas they had received respectively, the victims reported actual losses of 4.1 million patacas and 3.2 million patacas, respectively.
Chao said PJ officers discovered that Hong had never made any actual investments, adding that Hong, however, had kept a record of substantial gambling losses, and most of the funds obtained were used for gambling.
PJ officers arrested Hong at the local airport on Saturday and seized three smartphones and an ATM card from him.
Hong was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing fraud charges.
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the fraud suspect, surnamed Hong, to a PJ van outside the PJ headquarters in Zape yesterday. – Photo: Armindo Neves
