The police arrested a Hong Kong man on Monday for cheating a local man by claiming he could help him transfer money to the mainland to buy property there, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Leng Kam Lon said during a regular press conference yesterday.
Leng identified the suspect as a 24-year-old man surnamed See. He told the police that he works as a construction worker. The victim is a local man in his thirties. His surname was not released.
The victim had met the suspect through a friend, Leng said. The victim wanted to purchase a residential flat on the mainland. See told him told he could assist him in remitting a large amount of money to a bank account on the mainland.
According to Leng, the victim agreed to go ahead with the transfer and they decided to meet last Friday in a casino VIP room in Zape. See told the victim to deposit the money into his VIP room account from which he could transfer the amount to the mainland.
On Friday evening the victim deposited HK$3,670,000 in cash into the VIP room account provided by See.
According to Leng, the victim promptly received a picture of an electronic bank transfer receipt provided by See through an app. The victim believed the transfer was completed and he left the VIP room afterwards.
Last Saturday, the victim checked the mainland bank account to confirm if the money had been received. However, the bank staff told him that there was no record of the transfer, Leng said.
The victim became suspicious and reported the case to the police.
Police officers identified See as the suspect. He was arrested when he was trying to re-enter Macau through the Our Harbour Ferry Terminal checkpoint on Monday afternoon.
See refused to cooperate with the police, Leng said, adding that the police have, however, gathered sufficient evidence to prove that See committed the fraud.
The Judiciary Police transferred the suspect to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) on Tuesday. He is facing an aggravated fraud charge, Leng said.
According to Article 211 of the Macau Penal Code, aggravated fraud is punishable up to five years behind bars or a fine.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Leng Kam Lon (left) addresses yesterday’s regular press conference as Public Security Police (PSP) spokesman Lam Keong looks on. Photo: Kristy Chan
