A casino junket worker was arrested for exchanging at least 21 fake cash chips worth HK$10,000 into promotional chips – aka dead chips – to defraud other junkets, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Ho Chan Nam said at a regular press conference on Wednesday.

The 49-year-old jobless suspect surnamed Meng is from the mainland.

According to Ho, a staff member of a casino hotel in Zape reported to the Judiciary Police (PJ) on March 28 that a junket worker – the victim – had used six bogus cash chips to redeem cash, and the cage staff later confirmed that the casino ended up with 21 of the counterfeit chips worth HK$10,000 each.

Ho said the Judiciary Police discovered that the victim had obtained the fake chips from someone who had bought his promotional chips.

PJ officers identified Meng and a fellow junket worker – who turned out to be his accomplice – as the suspects. They also discovered that the duo had repeatedly used fake chips to exchange for promotional chips.

According to Ho, Meng was intercepted when he re-entered the Barrier Gate checkpoint on Saturday. He admitted to committing the fraud and told the police that it had been difficult for him to exchange the fake chips into cash because of their low imitation quality.

Therefore, he deliberately approached other junket workers to exchange the fake cash chips into promotional chips which, Meng claimed, he gave to his accomplice.

Meng told the officers that he had exchanged 13 fake cash chips worth HK$10,000 each into promotional chips for which he received a “remuneration” of 10 percent of the nominal value of the transaction.

The Judiciary Police were still looking for Meng’s accomplice at the time of the press conference.

Meng has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing a fraud charge, according to Ho.