PJ continues to crack down on illegal currency exchange

The Judiciary Police (PJ) has announced the arrest of two cases in connection with an illegal currency exchange scheme.

In the first case, on Nov. 21, PJ received a report about a suspected fraud case that occurred in a hotel in Cotai. During the investigation, authorities discovered that the suspect was conducting illegal money exchange activities in Macau. The case involved two witnesses, a male and a female, both middle-aged mainland residents, who were approached by the suspects in a casino in Cotai and offered assistance in exchanging currency.

Later that day, the witnesses needed to convert their Hong Kong dollar cash winnings into RMB and transfer it back to their bank accounts in the mainland. The suspect met the two witnesses outside a hotel in Cotai, where another unknown man was present. The parties agreed to exchange HKD70,000 in cash for RMB67,900. After the first witness successfully received the RMB transfer, the second witness handed over the cash to the unknown man, who then left the scene.

However, the first witness later discovered that his bank account was temporarily restricted due to the large transfer, and he believed the transaction was involved in a crime. The witnesses then stopped the suspect from leaving the scene and reported the incident to the authorities. During the investigation, the suspects refused to cooperate, and the police found strong indications that they had collaborated with an unknown individual to run an illegal currency exchange operation.

PJ detained the suspects Nov. 23 and transferred them to the Public Prosecutions Office for further investigation. Authorities are also actively searching for the whereabouts of the unidentified man involved in the transaction.

In a separate case, PJ detained three suspects in connection with a large-scale fraud and illegal currency exchange scheme involving a victim who lost HKD100,000 on Nov. 25. The victim had contacted a mainland resident through WeChat to exchange his gambling winnings, but later received a notification that the account had been frozen by mainland police due to receipt of fraudulent funds.

The police investigation revealed that in addition to the first suspect, two other suspects were involved.

The three suspects were uncooperative during questioning, but police found evidence linking them to illegal exchange activities in Macau.

The police also seized HKD48,000 in cash suspected to be involved in the case. All three suspects have been detained, and the case has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office for further investigation.

Victoria Chan