Crime | 28 residents lost MOP4.9 million in online scam

Twenty eight residents have lost more than MOP4.9 million in an online scam. In a press conference yesterday, the Judiciary Police (PJ) said that the residents had all met a woman on a mobile chat application, who lured them in with a falsified story.

According to the PJ, the events were first reported by one of the victims, who claimed to have met the alleged female suspect after she proclaimed herself to be a manager at a wedding design company.

The suspect claimed she could help people obtain 10 percent discount coupons for hotels located in the NAPE area.

These fake coupons were said to be eligible for use when booking feasts.

One victim gave the woman a total of more than MOP80,000 in two separate installments.

The woman then told the victim that she would settle the banquet payment after the banquet was finished.

Upon hearing this, the victim then booked banquets from one of the hotels the suspect supposedly said she could obtain a discount.

However, after the banquets were finished, the victim could not contact the suspect, having been told by the hotel that no such coupons ever existed.

In the past two days, the PJ received 27 similar complaints. All cases involved money scams with amounts ranging from MOP70,000 to MOP770,000.

According to the PJ, the woman has already left Macau.The PJ further stated that the victims handed over the money to the suspect by cash or cheque.

In a separate case, a mainland woman lost RMB1.2 million after having believed a self-proclaimed VIP room operator and businessman who allegedly worked in the diamond industry, the PJ said yesterday.

The story dates all the way back to November 2015, when the female victim got to know the man through an online chatting application.

The suspect is a male mainland resident who, in January of this year, met the victim face-to-face in Macau.

Following their meeting, the suspect took the victim to several of Macau’s VIP rooms in casinos.

After the visits, the victim was convinced by what the man told her in relation to his business, especially as he paid for all of her food and accommodation expenses.

As a consequence, she became interested in investing in the suspect’s business after he told her that she could double or triple what she invested.

Later in January, the victim gave the suspect RMB800,000 in cash to invest in his diamond business, although no receipt was ever signed by or given to the victim.

A few days later, the victim transferred an additional MOP400,000 to the suspect’s bank account.

After the last money transfer, the victim questioned the suspect about the money’s usage. At that point, she started to suspect that she might be a victim of fraud.

Victim trusted ‘Malaysian police officer’

A male Macau resident has lost around MOP20,000 after trusting a “Malaysian police officer” who might have never existed, Judiciary Police (PJ) told the media yesterday.

On January 27, the victim made contact with a self-proclaimed male resident of the US through an online chatting application.

On February 1, the “American” told the victim he was coming to Macau on a flight with a layover in Malaysia.

On February 3, the suspect said he had arrived in Malaysia, but had been arrested because he was carrying USD84,000 in cash.

The victim then received a phone call from a “Malaysian police officer” who told him that he could pay HKD4,800 to help this “American”.

The victim did what the “policeman” told him to do, and even kept receiving several calls, also from said “police”, telling him that more money should be delivered in order to process the legal affairs concerning the so-called American.

After settling the last payment on February 5, the victim realized that he might have been victim of a fraud, whereby he decided to report the situation to the police.