Crime | Locals tricked to buy goods at ‘discount prices’

Two cases of embezzlement were reported yesterday by the police during a press conference. One of the cases goes back to March 2015 and involves two victims, both Macau residents, who had presented on separate occasions complaints over a third woman, a 20-year-old resident, that allegedly had the capability of buying jewelry and watches from a local shop for well below market prices.

The first victim had contacted the Judiciary Police (PJ) in March 2015 claiming to have made a MOP21,000 payment to the suspect in order to buy a pair of rings that would cost the general public MOP28,000. The suspect accepted the payment and was from that point uncontactable to the customer. The customer claimed to have been deceived and filed a complaint at the PJ.

A couple of months later, in May, another woman also made a similar complaint regarding the same suspect.

In this second case, the victim said to have handed the sum of MOP114,330 to the suspect for her to get a pair of watches priced at HKD420,000.

As in the first case, after handing the money to the suspect she lost contact with her.

After two years of investigation, the PJ have reported that they finally detained the suspect, on March 8, when she was preparing to leave the territory by the Border Gate Checkpoint.

With the help of the immigration authorities she was taken in custody and handed to the PJ for further investigation. Questioned by the force, the suspect admitted to having received the money from the two women while she was working at the shop as a salesperson between January and May that year.

She said that since she had left the job, she could no longer provide the sales with discounts to the women and since she needed the money to face daily expenses she retained it for herself. She was conducted to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) where she was charged with the crime of breach of trust.

In a separate case, the police received a complaint in September 2015 from a mainland woman, who claimed to have been also scammed by a friend while both were playing in a local casino.

Because the victim needed to go to the toilet, she handed her handbag and one gaming chip in the value of HKD100,000 to her friend. After using the toilet she saw her handbag left alone in the restroom and no signs of the friend.

On March 10, the suspect was caught while trying to enter Macau. She denied the crime but according to the PJ, the review of the surveillance video shows clearly that after she got the chip from the friend, she went straight to the cashier to change it into cash and promptly left the casino.

As she did not provide any information on the whereabouts of the money, the PJ continues to investigate the case. The suspect was already presented to the MP where she was charged with the crime of breach of trust.

Elderly man caught stealing at airport

A man from Shanghai, aged around 60, was caught by a Duty Free shopkeeper at the local airport trying to sneak a black cup into his backpack. The case happened on March 11 and was reported by the shopkeeper, who found the man’s behavior suspicious. When he was approached by the shopkeeper the man returned the cup to the shelf and left the shop. The shopkeeper was unconvinced by his actions and the woman decided to review the surveillance footage of the shop where she saw the man taking many other items prior to being caught. She informed her supervisor and the police were called. Officers in the venue started to look for the man and found him standing near another duty free shop in the departure hall. After being asked to open his backpack the man complied and the PSP officer found inside a number of sweets, magnets, key chains and coasters, all belonging to the duty free shop. The theft, in total, amounted to MOP337 and the man was taken into custody by the police and charged with theft.