Police bust ring illegally profiteering from UnionPay cards

The Judiciary Police (PJ) raided five jewelry and telecommunications stores in NAPE at noon on Monday. They apprehended 17 people, allegedly in connection to illegal cash withdrawals through UnionPay cards on rigged point-­of-sale (POS) terminals.
Earlier, the authorities had received a tip-off from a source about the illicit activities and, after investigation, they eventually descended on the pinpointed stores. The investigators seized 11 POS terminals, several cash-counter machines, along with numerous transaction accounts and receipts on site. Around MOP13.5 million cash denominated in MOP, HKD and RMB was also recovered.
A PJ spokesperson revealed yesterday in a media briefing that 4,549 deals had been made to date, totaling MOP354.7 million. These takings have been accumulating since the longest-­running illegal activity branch in one of the five firms started operating last May. The rackets compromised the Hong Kong branch of China UnionPay with a HKD710,000 loss.
Of the suspects – who range from 24 to 55 in age and will be sent to the Public Prosecutions Office today – nine were from the mainland, while the rest are locals. Authorities said that the abovementioned stores were owned by a group of men comprising three locals and one mainlander. One of the jewelry firms was found to be unlicensed during the raid.
The four masterminds behind the operation hired five locals and three mainland Chinese as assistants, while employing another five mainlanders to hunt for potential clients in casinos, the majority of whom were also from across the border. Those hunters were rewarded after each transaction with an amount ranging from MOP50 to 300, which was subject to the clients’ individual withdrawal.
According to the authorities, some of the seized terminals were set up to alter the transaction location to the mainland instead of Macau, as Chinese terminals allow a far lower handling fee rate than Macau ones; through doing this, their aim was to reap gains from the rate disparity. A further inquiry is currently underway to see if any other accomplices are involved.
In another case, details of which were also released yesterday, PJ officers caught three members of a mainland drug-trafficking ring selling drugs to night-­club-goers.
Following information provided by their source, the authorities’ agents targeted the suspects, monitoring two of them who had checked into a hotel in Cotai a few days ago. The pair met with the other suspect Monday noontime in their room. The investigators intercepted the suspects when they left the room at night and found them to be in possession of drugs worth a market value of MOP750,000.
The authorities also believed that the ring has been operating for half a year and has held remote control sales throughout the territory. Staff reporter

Man falls for bank account hack through unknown app

A man has lost RMB6,350 after receiving a text leading him to download an application, which he later found to be non-removable, except via factory reset. The message was said to contain a link for perusing his daughter’s past academic records. The application that was automatically installed on his phone after he clicked on the link failed to function. Moments later, the victim received other messages saying money had been transferred from his bank account to an unknown account.