A local sexagenarian woman was arrested last week for picking up another person’s MACAUpass and spending almost all the card’s 650 patacas, according to a statement by the Public Security Police (PSP).
The statement said the case happened after a domestic helper had lost a MACAUpass card provided by her employer. The employer later checked the balance through a mobile app and discovered multiple supermarket consumption records. The employer suspected that someone had stolen the card and used it so the employer reported the case to the police.
The police were able to track down the suspect according to information provided by the supermarket and arrested the woman in a flat in Taipa last week. In the flat the police seized the clothes that she was wearing when she committed the crime, as well as daily necessities she bought from the supermarket by using the stolen card.
Under questioning, the woman, who is in her sixties, admitted that she picked up the victim’s MACAUpass card and almost emptied it, after which she handed the card to a supermarket cashier and asked her to throw it into the rubbish bin. PSP officers contacted the cashier who had kept the card at the counter and handed it to the police.
The suspect has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing a theft-by-finding charge.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) last week shows evidence seized from the suspect such as the stolen MACAUpass card and daily necessities bought with the card.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) last week shows a PSP officer escorting the suspect to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) in Nape.
