Crime | Currency exchange scams continue

Currency exchange fraud within and in the vicinity of local casinos accounts for a significant proportion of criminal activity observed over the last few months.

In one case reported to the Judiciary Police (PJ) on January 20, a man from the mainland claimed to have been swindled by two other mainlanders in a currency exchange scheme that he was operating close to a local casino.

At the time of the report, the victim informed police that he had offered currency exchange services, and on that day, one of the suspects agreed to trade RMB60,000 in exchange for HKD68,700.

The three men met at the entrance of a casino to complete the transaction. One of the suspects used his mobile phone to transfer money to the victim’s account in the mainland, showing him moments later that the transaction had been successful.

The victim handed over the Hong Kong dollars in cash to the two other parties before they parted ways. A few minutes later, the victim received a message from his bank that the transaction had been cancelled. After unsuccessfully attempting to contact the suspects, he reported the case to the PJ.

During the investigation the PJ made use of surveillance camera footage to identify the two suspects, but were informed later by the border police that they had already left the region.

According to a PJ spokesperson at yesterday’s joint press conference, with the assistance of the Public Security Police Force on February 22, it was possible to intercept one of the suspects attempting to re-enter Macau.

The suspect, a 30-year-old driver, was questioned by the PJ but refused to cooperate with local authorities and denied any involvement in the crime.

The case was handed to the Public Prosecutions Office for further charges of swindling. The second suspect is still missing.

In a separate case reported by the PJ spokesperson, a shop owner claims to have been burgled at his food establishment located in the NAPE area.

The local man found that the door of his small fast food restaurant had been broken. From the interior, he claims to be missing approximately HKD4,000 and MOP1,000 in cash in addition to the damage caused to the door.

Review of the CCTV footage showed that the burglary occurred around 7 a.m. on Sunday, February 25.
The case is still under investigation.