A local woman pawned her boyfriend’s watch and spent the money on gambling then used his credit card to withdraw cash with the intention of buying back his watch but instead used the money to gamble again, altogether losing about 100,000 patacas on the gaming tables.
Her boyfriend discovered the case from his credit card transaction records, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokeswoman Lei Hon Nei said at a regular press conference yesterday.
Lei said that the woman is a 43-year-old surnamed Wong who claims to be unemployed.
According to Lei, the victim, a Hong Kong resident in his forties, met Wong through a social media platform when he worked in Macau in August last year. They became a couple and lived together in Zape district.
Lei said that the boyfriend discovered that more than 100,000 patacas had been spent when he checked his credit card records on Sunday afternoon while he was in Hong Kong. He called Wong to ask about it and returned to Macau immediately to check further.
Upon checking, the victim discovered that his watch valued at HK$57,000 had vanished. He called Wong who admitted that she took the watch to a pawnshop in Nape on Saturday to get 35,000 patacas and gambled the money away in the casinos in Cotai, according to Lei.
Wong told the police that she wanted to redeem the watch. Therefore, she asked a friend on Sunday to swipe the credit card given to her by her boyfriend so that she could withdraw HK$141,700 patacas but when she got the cash, she gambled the money away again.
The spokesman didn’t elaborate on when the victim contacted the police and when the suspect was taken in for questioning.
The victim reported a total loss of 198,700 patacas including the watch. The police were able to retrieve the watch from the pawnshop. The case is under further investigation.
Lei said that Wong has been transferred to the Public Prosecution Office (MP), facing charges of aggravated theft, fraud and credit card abuse.
The hooded suspect is escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers from the PJ headquarters in Zape to the Public Prosecution Office (MP) yesterday. Photo: Iong Tat Choi
