The Judiciary Police (PJ) have nabbed a man from the Chinese mainland for defrauding 255,000 patacas, PJ spokesman said during a special press conference yesterday.
Ho identified the suspect as a 31-year-old man surnamed Du, who claimed to be a car salesman.
According to Ho, on November 25 the victim met Du in the mainland, where the latter showed her a WeChat account purporting to have a balance of over 1.8 million yuan (2.1 million patacas) in savings, leading the victim to trust Du’s financial standing.
On November 29, Ho said, Du invited the victim to Macau to gamble and subsequently took her to two casinos in Zape to teach her “gambling techniques”.
While gambling, Du, under the pretext of borrowing money for gambling, requested funds from the victim and again displayed his WeChat account balance to gain her trust. Believing Du to be genuine, the victim handed over a total of 67,000 yuan and HK$172,000 to him, most of which he promptly gambled away.
Afterwards, Ho said that Du delayed repayment, citing purporting limits on the WeChat account, and promised to return the money upon arriving back at the mainland, adding that Du later blocked the victim and cut off contact.
The victim reported the case to the police on January 2, having lost a total of around 255,000 patacas.
During the investigation, PJ officers revealed that Du’s WeChat, bank, and Alipay accounts did not contain the purported 1.8 million yuan, nor sufficient funds to repay the victim.
At around 11 p.m. on Tuesday, Du was intercepted while entering Macau through the Barrier Gate checkpoint. The smartphone used in the crime was seized from him.
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the hooded fraud suspect from the Chinese mainland to a PJ van outside the PJ headquarters in Zape yesterday. – Photo: Armindo Neves
