Woman cheated out of 363,000 patacas for facemasks from Indonesia
Chan said that in one case a local businesswoman who runs a hotel supply company reported to the Judiciary Police on Monday that she had been defrauded out of 363,000 patacas when ordering 630,000 facemasks online. She told the Judiciary Police that her friend introduced her to a women in February who claimed that she could help the victim buy facemasks from Indonesia. The victim ordered 630,000 facemasks for 877,500 patacas and remitted a down payment of 363,000 patacas to the suspect’s bank account in Indonesia.
According to Chan, the suspect promised the transaction would be settled on March 5 but the victim never received the facemasks and she also lost contact with the suspect on March 23. She suspected that she had been cheated and reported the case to the Judiciary Police on Monday.
This handout photo provided by the Judiciary Police (PJ) yesterday shows Guangzhou Public Security Bureau officers posing with the facemask sales scam suspect after his arrest on March 18. The suspect’s face was pixelated by the police.
Mainlander arrested in Guangzhou for online facemasks scam
According to Chan, the Public Security Police in Guangzhou arrested a mainlander on March 18 for allegedly selling facemasks online to local residents and non-resident workers in Macau. There are 14 victims cheated out of total of 8,300 patacas.
The suspect is a 28-year-old man surnamed Chen who lives in Guangzhou who used different online platforms to “sell” facemasks to his victims, cheating each of them out of between 200 and 1,000 patacas between February and March, involving 8,300 patacas in total.
According to Chan, 14 victims in Macau recently reported to the police that they had been cheated by Chen. PJ officers soon discovered that Chen is a Guangzhou resident who had visited Macau only once in November last year. In an attempt to stop Chen’s facemask scam, the Judiciary Police cooperated with the Public Security Bureau of Guangdong. Their joint investigation started on March 12.
Chen was arrested by the Public Security Bureau in Guangzhou on March 18. Chen confessed and claimed that he had spent all the ill-gotten gains on his daily expenses, according to Chan.
Chan urged the public to buy facemasks only from reputable websites or online shops and report to the police immediately if they suspect that they have been cheated.
