A man, aged in his seventies, has lost MOP180,000 to a man impersonating his son and claiming to need the money to pay compensation to others, the Judiciary Police (PJ) has reported.
The impersonator, aged 24, is from Hong Kong and allegedly unemployed. He has been charged with the crimes of relatively major swindling and criminal syndication.
At about 10:30 a.m. on Sep. 14, the suspect called the elderly man’s landline at home. He claimed to the man that he has engaged in physical assault and needed some money to settle compensation.
He asked the elderly man for MOP180,000.
The elderly man admitted that the suspect’s voice sounded very much like his son’s.
Believing the suspect, at about 1:30 p.m. on the same day, the elderly man gave the sum in cash to the suspect in person at a bus stop near Grand Lisboa Hotel.
Two hours later, the suspect called again to claim that he needed an additional MOP200,000 for medical compensation. Now sceptical, the elderly man called his real son and discovered he had fallen victim to a scam.
The elderly man immediately contacted the police, who instructed him to meet the impersonator under the guise of handing over the additional money. When the suspect received the second batch of cash, inspectors appeared and placed him under arrest.
The suspect revealed to the police that he was ordered to conduct the crime and was promised 8% of the swindled cash as remuneration. The first batch of money was given to two other men, according to the suspect.
Investigations are still underway. AL
