Local man detained over MOP2.9m fraud

A man has been detained on charges of substantial fraud, issuing empty cheques and money laundering, involving a total of MOP2.93 million, the Judiciary Police (PJ) announced.

According to the PJ, in mid-February 2022, the PJ and the Public Security Police Force of Macau received 16 reports, including by a number of elderly people, of fraudulent claims of losses totaling MOP2.93 million from a local man pretending to be a staff member of an aerial company who was offering valuable gifts for the installation of TV set-top boxes.

The PJ took over the investigation and arrested the suspect on Wednesday night, “but he refused to cooperate,” the authority stated. 

The suspect, surnamed Chan, is 38 years old and is reported to be unemployed. 

The 16 victims included nine men and seven women, aged between 23 and 81, who were unemployed, retired, businessmen, gambling workers, electricians, chief security officers and casino electricians. The remainder are local residents, most of whom live in the North District.

The PJ said that some elderly people have had the entire contents of their bank accounts transferred.

According to the authority, due to the large amount of money involved, a special task force has been set up by the superintendent to follow up on all the cases.

“[Upon] investigation, police detained the man outside a building in Rua do Almirante Sérgio on Wednesday, but he refused to co-operate,” the PJ added.

About MOP300,000 of suspected stolen money was seized during the operation, as well as a number of tools used to commit the crime, including TV set-top boxes.

The case revealed that the fraudsters, claiming to be “TV network repairers” from an aerial company, would first visit flats in residential buildings and then recommend the installation of TV set-top boxes to the residents who answered the door. 

During the installation, a “staff card” was presented. Although the customer did receive the gifts, the fraudster would claim that the company had a requirement that the customer had to pay a “deposit” ranging from a few thousand to tens of thousands of patacas to receive the valuable gifts, and that the “deposit” would be returned in full after one month. 

“Therefore, the client believes it to be true.” PJ said.

A month later, the fraudster comes back to the customer and presents them with a cheque for the refund of the “deposit”. 

During the “visit,” the fraudster claims that the cheque issued by the company is for more than the “deposit” and asks the customer to return the difference in cash or by transferring the money via internet banking. 

The fraudsters also assisted some of the older clients to use their mobile phones to transfer money via internet banking, in order to transfer all the money from the elderly’s bank accounts. 

The fraudsters defrauded the clients of between MOP2,000 and MOP730,000. When the cheques were cashed, they turned out to be blank cheques and the fraudsters could no longer be contacted.

The case has been referred to the Public Prosecutor’s Office for investigation.