A local woman has fallen victim to an online love scam, in which she lost around 18,000 patacas, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokeswoman Yeung Sau Chan said during a regular press conference yesterday.
Yeung noted that the victim is a 53-year-old divorcee surnamed Chao, an accountant by profession.
According to Yeung, Chao told the police that she met a man who claimed to be from the US on Facebook in early November, after which they started an online relationship.
Later that month, Yeung said, the man told the victim that the company he worked for was facing financial problems and hence he needed 6,000 euros. Chao told him that she didn’t have so much money and only had 1,250 euros that she could wire him.
Chao transferred the amount to a bank account provided by the man, Yeung said.
The man also promised Chao that he would visit her in Macau.
Yeung said that earlier this month, the man informed Chao about a policy in his company that employees without a spouse could get only a proportion of their salary. He asked the victim to act as his wife and send an e-mail to his company so that she could receive 40,000 euros.
Chao sent the e-mail, according to Yeung. In a reply e-mail she was told that before she could obtain the amount, she needed to pay value added tax of 550 euros. The victim did as she was asked.
Later another e-mail told the victim that the 40,000 euros would arrive in three weeks.
However, Chao discovered that the attachment in an e-mail she received from the ‘company’ with a copy of a flight ticket for the man she was online-dating, had a fake flight number, Yeung said.
According to Yeung, the victim suspected that she had been deceived and called the police. She lost a total of 1,800 euros in the love scam, about 18,000 patacas.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokeswoman Yeung Sau Chan holds yesterday’s regular press conference about the city’s latest crime cases. Photo: Joel Chu
