A male gambler from the mainland was arrested for holding a female money changer against her will and falsely accusing her of fraud, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokeswoman Lei Hon Nei said at a regular press conference yesterday.

The 36-year-old jobless suspect is surnamed Mao. The female victim is a mainlander in her thirties who earns her living as an illegal currency exchange dealer.

According to Lei, the security department of a hotel in the city centre reported to the police on February 25 a suspected currency exchange fraud case. Mao claimed that a woman had defrauded him out of HK$50,000. He told the police that he had given the amount to the woman to exchange currency, but he had not received any money from her in return.

However, the woman told the police that Mao contacted her on February 25 to come to his hotel guestroom for a currency exchange deal. After she met Mao and realised that he didn’t have the necessary cash, she refused to give him any money and left the room. Mao tried to pull her twice back into the room but eventually she was able to leave the room with Mao following her. They ended up quarrelling in the hotel lobby and aroused the attention of security guards who then reported the case to the police, Lei said.

According to Lei, PJ officers discovered that Mao had exchanged HK$60,000 with the woman on February 24 but gambled it all away. The officers were unable to find any cash on him that he would have needed for the HK$50,000 currency exchange deal. Based on the information gathered, the Judiciary Police confirmed that Mao had falsely accused the victim. Mao didn’t have the necessary cash for the currency exchange deal but still wanted to “borrow” money from her. When the victim refused to give him money, he held her in the room against her will for a period of time.

Mao has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing charges of false accusation and imprisonment, according to Lei.