Card fraud syndicate busted, losses of MOP5.9m

A payment card fraud syndicate resulting in the loss of MOP5.9 million from 71 victims has been uncovered, with three people under arrest, the Judiciary Police (PJ) announced yesterday.

According to the police, the three suspects have stolen at least MOP4.4 million.

The suspects, identified by their surnames as Sio (33), owner of three car service centers and a beauty parlor; Fok (32), owner of an engineering company; and Che (31), an insurance broker, face charges of computer fraud, money laundering, and participation in a criminal syndicate.

As of yesterday, no local resident card-data has been detected as part of the fraud, the PJ reported.

On Dec. 19 last year, the police were notified by a local bank and an external non-mainland card issuer that they had flagged as suspicious over 100 transactions in Macau that month involving non-local card holders, amounting to the loss of MOP5.9 million.

The police traced the transactions to the commercial establishments of the three suspects.

On Wednesday morning, the police arrested the suspects in various locations across the city. They also searched the commercial establishments and staff were taken for questioning.

The police believed that the suspects had gathered payment card data and made the fraudulent transactions online through their businesses. The cards were connected to mobile devices and had been used to facilitate MOP4.4 million in unauthorized transactions.

The investigations also uncovered a cigarette smuggling operation, which was referred to the Macao Customs.

The PJ discovered a high volume of smuggled cigarettes in a shop and apartment during their investigations for the payment card abuse case. A local woman with a prior criminal history was arrested.

The woman, surnamed Chan, said she was the shopkeeper. Customs officers found 434,200 cigarettes in a shop and an apartment on Rua do Bocage in near San Ma Lo, which equate to MOP220,000 in base value and MOP651,300 in unpaid import duties. She confessed that she had been buying smuggled cigarettes to resell in her store since 2021.

She is subject to a maximum penalty of MOP100,000 in fines and the cigarettes have been confiscated. She also faces penalties under laws concerning smoking prevention and control, and the Health Bureau has been informed for appropriate follow up.

Three other people – Chan’s relatives – were found living in the apartment but reported having no knowledge about the source of the cigarettes.