Bank staff arrested for defrauding elderly client to repay a crypto debt

A bank customer service manager has been arrested on charges of deceiving an elderly client by falsely claiming she could offer “preferential interest rates” on time deposits.

The case was unveiled by the Judiciary Police (PJ) following a complaint.

According to the investigation, the now-former customer service manager allegedly lost over MOP1 million through cryptocurrency trading, leading to debts owed to relatives and friends, which allegedly prompted her to commit the crime.

The investigation revealed that she forged deposit slips to defraud the victim of the funds.

The case dates back to February 2022, when the victim met the bank staff at the institution.

According to the case details, they became friends on WeChat, with the bank staff frequently sending the victim information about deposit promotions.

At the end of that month, she falsely claimed that time deposits over MOP500,000 would receive preferential interest rates.

Believing her, the victim handed over MOP100,000 in cash. In October of the same year, the suspect again lured him with an interest rate of 2.15%, resulting in another MOP100,000 transfer.

Because of his trust in the bank employee, the victim did not sign any documents during either transaction, as the employee only sent him photos of the alleged deposit receipts that never cleared the bank’s system.

In 2023 and 2024, the victim received a total of MOP7,200 in “interest,” which led him to trust the system. In February 2025, he was asked to transfer MOP500,000 at an annual interest rate of 4%.

From this moment on, the victim stopped receiving interest payments.

When asked about the matter, the bank staff repeatedly delayed the payment, offering several excuses. In October last year, the victim visited the bank in person to investigate further and reported the incident to the police, only to discover he had been scammed. After the investigation started, the suspect was immediately fired. Ricaela Diputado