Crime | PJ pursues ringleader in credit cards scam

A  Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesperson said yesterday that the force is currently looking for the ringleader of a criminal organization based in Malaysia which has reportedly been targeting Macau with scams involving fake credit cards.

During a press conference yesterday, the spokesperson revealed that more cases related to the use of fake credit cards by Malaysian nationals have been found over the last couple of days.

Two individuals hired by the criminal organization to buy goods using the fake credit cards were detained on Friday. The PJ said it received complaints of three different cases involving four Malaysians who were found with a total of 59 forged credit cards in their possession.

One of the detainees, a 19-year- old, was caught in possession of 10 cards, and another 11 cards were found in his hotel room.

The PJ said that he was operating with a partner, still at large, and that together between March 6 and 8 they managed to buy products amounting to approximately MOP180,000.

A further enquiry and an investigation into the suspect revealed that he had been hired for the job and he would get a reward equivalent to MOP4,000.

In another case, it was found that another Malaysian had bought bags, wallets and sneakers and paid for hotel rooms with some of the fake credit cards.

In his possession were 21 of these cards and it was found that three of them had been used successfully to purchase products to the value of MOP37,000 in different shops across Macau.

In a third case, a 31-year-old male had been detained, said to be a taxi driver in Malaysia.

The hotel alerted the police after discovering that the man had paid his hotel bill with one of the fake cards.

The PJ were called to the hotel by hotel management where they found the man around 5 p.m. on March 24. In the man’s possession were 17 forged credit cards as well as leather bags and accessories he allegedly bought using the cards.

The man claimed to be acting alone but also informed the police that he would get a 10 percent reward based on the value of the items he managed to buy.

In four successful transactions in different shops he spent a total of MOP102,108.

Fake diamond ring used as bait for swindle

T

he Judiciary Police detained a man from mainland China who had been allegedly involved in at least four different cases of swindling. According to the PJ report the man was caught after his last scam which was conducted on March 20.

The police received a complaint from a victim who said that a man approached him in the NAPE area claiming to have lost all his money gambling. He asked for some money to purchase food and to return back home.

The man then told him another story claiming that he needed more money to buy a mobile phone for his boss back in the mainland. In exchange, he gave as a deposit a diamond ring allegedly valued at HKD120,000.

After obtaining money from the victim, the man said that he would seek return of the ring upon payment of the loan the following day.

The victim handed over a total of MOP23,400 to the man who vanished, without trace. The victim took the ring to a pawnshop only to learn it was worthless.

The PJ noted the similarities in the story to another three last year which occurred between May and July in the peninsula central area and believed all to have been performed by the same person. Upon further investigation, the PJ found and arrested the man on the evening of March 22 in the NAPE area.

Upon being questioned he admitted the four crimes, saying that the rings had been bought in Zhuhai for around RMB2,300 each. In total the swindler took from the four victims a sum of around MOP84,000 which he said he lost at the gaming tables.