The Monetary Authority of Macao announced yesterday that the trade-weighted exchange rate index for the pataca dropped 0.84 points month-to-month and 0.73 points year-on-year to 105.7 in July. This movement suggests that overall, the exchange rate of the pataca declined against the currencies of Macau’s major trading partners. The preliminary estimate of Macau SAR’s foreign exchange reserves amounted to MOP157.9 billion at the end of July. The reserves reduced by 0.8 percent from the revised value of MOP159.2 billion for the previous month while the region’s foreign exchange reserves at the end of July 2017 represented 11 times the currency in circulation of pataca.
Chan calls for real names in mobile registration
Lawmaker Chan Meng Kam suggested that the government should establish a policy to prevent people from using unknown mobile numbers. Chan’s suggestion took into consideration the tactics used in phone scams. He believes that the government can collect information on phone scams through technology, and then use computer settings from Macau’s telecommunication operators to disable the phone scammers accounts, as well as to establish an alarm system to prevent phone scams. Chan also made an inquiry asking the government about the required processes for launching a real name registration policy.
Woman cheated out of MOP10m by phone scam
A local woman aged around 40 years was cheated out of MOP10 million by a male con artist who was claiming to be a British engineer. The victim met the criminal through Facebook, and began a dating relationship entirely based on their interactions via the internet. In June of last year, the engineer told the woman that he would transfer USD15 million to her as funds for their future life together. However, he said that the money had to be transferred to both mainland and Thailand accounts and told the woman that she would first need to transfer USD1.46 million to said accounts. The woman did so, and her family revealed the fraud later.
