Crime | Civil servant loses over MOP230,000 in cryptocurrency investment scam

A woman in her twenties has reportedly lost the equivalent of 232,617 patacas in a scam involving investments in cryptocurrency, the Judiciary Police (PJ) revealed yesterday during the regular press conference held at the PJ headquarters.
The case goes back to mid-November when the woman, who is a civil servant in Macau, received a message through a mobile communication application from a man claiming to be a Chinese citizen residing in the United States of America.
During the conversation, the alleged scammer told her he was knowledgeable in the field of cryptocurrency investments and offered to teach her how to make investments of this type that would deliver a very high return.
She accepted the offer to engage in the scheme and he sent her a link to a website where she could register and create an account so she could follow up on her investments and profits.
At the start, the local woman invested USD1,500 plus RMB5,000, from which she started to see earnings in a very short period.
She then became interested in raising the investment and added a further RMB100,000 and HKD90,000 to her investment account.
After seeing some profits from the investment in a short period once again, she then decided to withdraw the money for fear that it would not hold steady, but the online platform rejected her request to withdraw.
She felt suspicious about it and contacted the man who had introduced her to the scheme. At the same time, she searched for information on the Internet regarding the website. While the man who had told her about the scheme replied that he was not aware of any problems or difficulties with the platform, the online search returned information from other people claiming that the platform was a scam and that they had lost all their money.
She then decided to file a complaint with PJ regarding the case, reporting a loss equivalent to 232,617 patacas.

The case that never was

In a statement to the media, the Judiciary Police (PJ) informed yesterday that a special press conference would be held before the regular press conference to present a case involving the online transmission of videos involving sexual acts with minors.
Strangely, although everything was prepared at the PJ, including the presentation of a mobile phone as evidence in the case, the press conference was first delayed and then postponed indefinitely.
Questioned by the Times on the topic, the Public Relations of the PJ revealed that “there was a last-minute change of plan regarding the press release of the case involving underage students,” adding, “when the case is ready, we will inform the press again.”