A convenience store’s sales assistant was arrested on Monday for using MACAUpass cards left by customers in the store, Public Security Police (PSP) spokeswoman Lai In Hong said at a regular press conference on Wednesday.
The suspect surnamed Cheang is in his twenties.
According to Lai, a man reported to the police on June 1 that he had lost his MACAUpass card in January, after which he applied for a new one. When he transferred the balance of his old card to the new one, he discovered that it contained two transactions after the loss so he reported the case to the police.
Lai said the police discovered that the two transactions were made in a convenience store in Rua de Pedro Coutinho, suspecting that Cheang had used the card. PSP officers intercepted Cheang in the convenience store on Monday and also went to his home to investigate. A total of 14 cards were seized from Cheang and his home, one of which belonged to the man who reported the case to the police while the loss of the other cards had not been reported by the holders.
According to Lai, Cheang confessed that the 14 cards had been left by customers after shopping at the store.
Lai said that Cheang kept the cards in the store for some time, after which he began to use them on May 14 for bus fares and buying cigarettes in the store where he worked. He also used the cards to take cash from the cash register after some customers had paid in cash.
Cheang was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) on Monday, facing a theft-by-finding charge, according to Lai.
This handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) on Wednesday shows PSP officers escorting the suspect to the PSP station in Zape on Monday.
