Crime | HKD920,000 stolen in currency exchange scheme

A man from mainland China was victim of a violent theft that occurred in an unidentified casino-hotel which caused him a loss calculated to be HKD920,000, the Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesperson said yesterday at a press conference held at the PJ headquarters.

According to the police report, the victim wished to convert the total amount of HKD920,000 into RMB800,000, agreeing with one of the suspects to do so.

He was taken to a hotel room to make the exchange. Since he carried with him only HKD220,000, he went to a casino area to withdraw the remaining amount, allegedly from a VIP account.

When he returned to the room, he found not one but two men who pushed him to the bed and violently tied him with adhesive tape. After immobilizing the victim, the two suspects fled with the money. The PJ said they are still investigating the case and searching for the two suspects.

In a separate theft, a woman from mainland China lost HKD64,000 while walking in the surroundings of a casino in Taipa. The women was carrying the cash in her hand when a man pulled her by the shoulder and grabbed the money, running quickly away.

She told the PJ that she had met the same man a few hours before inside the casino. This case is also under investigation.

The PJ also reported two other cases classified as aggravated swindles occurring in local casinos while performing illegal currency exchanges.

The first one occurred on March 16 around
3 p.m. and involved a victim and a suspect from the mainland.

The suspect, a man, aged 32, agreed to convert an amount of RMB164,000 into HKD200,000 for another man. He gave the victim a bank account in China to which the victim transferred the amount in RMB.

After the transfer cleared, the suspect claimed he had not received a message from the bank acknowledging the success of the transaction, and then he fled the scene.

He was quickly caught with the help of the casino security. In his possession was HKD90,000, which led the PJ to believe he could not provide the amount agreed to the victim.

He was accused of aggravated swindle and delivered to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP).

The second currency exchange case involved a woman from Taiwan who claimed to have been tricked by a man, also from Taiwan, who offered to convert HKD115,000 into TWD.

The man never returned the amount he had promised, claiming insufficient funds as an excuse to call a male friend. Upon investigation, the police determined that this friend did not exist, and immediately after receiving the money in HKD from the woman, he lost it gambling in the casino.

He has already been presented to the MP accused of aggravated swindle.

Group of residents caught in drug-fueled party

A group of five people, which included four residents of Macau and one from Hong Kong, were caught on Saturday night in a local disco club enjoying a drug- fueled party, a PJ representative revealed during yesterday’s press conference.

According to the PJ spokesperson, the case was discovered when the PJ was performing an anti-crime operation in NAPE area, especially targeting entertainment venues.

When the officers entered the club, a man was spotted trying to hide something, trigging a detailed investigation at his table where another three men and a woman were seated.

The investigation revealed pieces of paper with substances on them believed to be drugs, as well as a cigarette filled with a white powder that is believed to be cocaine. Additionally, one MOP10 bill with more white powder inside and one small plastic bag with 0.4 grams of a substance confirmed to be cocaine were discovered.

Following questioning, the man said he acquired the drugs from another man for MOP5,000. According to the police spokesperson, the 0.4 g of the substance confirmed to be cocaine has a market value of around MOP1,300.

The group of five, aged between 29 and 37 were accused of drug possession and consumption.

In a separate case, another resident, a man aged 63, was targeted in a large case of swindle.

The PJ said it received three different complaints over a scheme of alleged fraud which promised to find jobs for non-resident workers from mainland China between November 2017 and March 2018.

In total, the three victims were said to have lost a total of MOP291,460. Around RMB9,000 was delivered to three middle- aged people who were supposedly intermediaries between the group which claimed to be finding jobs and the 56 people seeking jobs in Macau.

According to the investigation details, the local man, who had been accused of similar activities before, was offering positions such as cooks, security guards, construction workers and cleaning services.

He has been accused of aggravated swindle.