Suspect detained in HKD800,000 counterfeit money scam

A 33-year-old man from the mainland was detained by the Judiciary Police (PJ) as one of three suspects involved in a HKD800,000 counterfeit banknote fraud case. The case was revealed yesterday in a special press conference organized by the PJ.
According to the PJ spokesperson, the victim, a man from mainland China in his 30s, arrived in Macau on Saturday, October 3, to gamble in the local casinos. Since he did not have any Hong Kong currency, he asked a friend to help him find someone who could exchange RMB for HKD at a better rate.
He contacted the suspect who is now in custody on October 4, intending to exchange RMB725,600 for HKD800,000. They arranged to meet in the lobby of the hotel the victim was staying at.
At around 4 p.m., they finally met in the lobby before heading to the victim’s room to perform the transaction.
In the room, the suspect showed the victim eight bundles of banknotes containing HKD100,000 each. However, he did not allow the victim to touch the money, asking him to transfer the amount in RMB to two different mainland bank accounts first.
The victim proceeded with the transfer. After verifying that the money was received, the suspect finally handed the bundles to the victim, who started counting the money.
Just a few moments later, the victim realized that the banknotes were counterfeit. He immediately stopped the suspect from fleeing, calling the police.
During the investigation that followed, the PJ reviewed the surveillance footage of the hotel lobby and realized that the suspect did not arrive alone. According to the PJ spokesperson, the footage shows that at around 3 p.m. that day, the suspect was in the hotel lobby with the other two men.
In the video, one of the other two suspects accompanies the first suspect to the lobby bathroom, before exiting a few minutes later.
According to the information provided in the testimony of the first suspect, one of the men was a fellow townsman of the first suspect and allegedly the person who hired him for this job. The second man was the owner of the counterfeit banknotes that he handed to the victim.
The detainee also told the PJ that this man handed him the cash in the lavatory and instructed him on how to perform the transaction with the victim.
The suspect admitted to the PJ that he had been hired in Zhuhai to perform currency exchanges in Macau for RMB500 per day, but said that he did not know that the banknotes were counterfeit.
The PJ says they have enough evidence to prove that the suspect was aware of the scheme and was cooperating with the other two men that are still at large.
The suspect has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office to be accused of fraud and passing of counterfeit currency.
The PJ also noted that although the scam involved HKD800,000, the victim was only in possession of HKD763,000 worth of counterfeit banknotes. The police are still looking for the other two suspects involved in this case.