A local woman faked a scam in which she told the police that she had bought 19,000 thermometer guns in the mainland for 3.99 million yuan (US$561,400) but claimed that she did not receive them in an attempt to cover herself for cheating a buyer to whom she was purportedly reselling the thermometer guns for 1.5 million yuan, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Leng Kam Lon said during regular press conference yesterday.
The woman is a 30-year-old surnamed Tang, who claimed to be unemployed.
According to Leng, Tang was repeatedly questioned by the police after she had reported the “case”, and finally she confessed to the crime, saying that she had already used the 1.5 million yuan to repay her debts.
Leng said that Tang made a report to the police on March 2, claiming to have met a man through a messaging app, and ordered and paid for 19,000 thermometer guns to be supplied by him in Zhuhai for 3.99 million yuan, but since she never got the goods she suspected she was being cheated.
Tang had previously found a buyer who wanted to purchase 5,000 thermometer guns from her and paid her 1.5 million yuan, but she could not deliver the goods to the buyer because she told the buyer that she had not received the thermometer guns, according to Leng.
Upon investigation, the police contacted the buyer, who is the victim, in the mainland. The victim told the police that he had paid Tang, but didn’t receive the goods as scheduled. Tang had shown him the electronic deposit receipts for the purchase to prove that she had ordered the thermometer guns, but that the seller repeatedly delayed delivering them to her.
However, after verification, the police discovered that all the deposit slips were forged, according to Leng.
Leng pointed out that the police officer dealing with the case suspected that there was another case involved and asked Tang to go to the police station for further questioning.
Leng said that Tang finally confessed that she had come up with the plot to make it seem as though she was the victim, and then decided to report the fictitious case to the police. She said she forged the documents and deposit slips to earn the victim’s trust, but in fact she never purchased any thermometer guns.
Tang was transferred to the Public Prosecution Office (MP) for questioning, facing charges of fraud involving a considerable amount, officially defined as exceeding 150,000 patacas, making a false police report, and computer crime.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Leng Kam Lon (left) and Public Security Police (PSP) spokesman Lam Keong pose during the two police forces’ regular press conference yesterday. Photo: Camy Tam
