A mainlander’s bank account has been frozen after exchanging Hong Kong dollars into yuan with the help of an illegal currency exchange dealer at a casino in Cotai last month, resulting in a loss of 235,000 yuan, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesperson said at a press conference yesterday.
According to the spokesperson, the victim is a middle-aged mainland man, and the suspect is a 25-year-old male mainlander surnamed Liu.
According to the spokesperson, the victim won HK$300,000 in a casino last month, and he wished to exchange the money into yuan and deposit it into his mainland bank account. Therefore, the victim contacted Liu, an illegal currency exchanger, to meet him in a casino.
Liu showed him a photo of his I.D., and also transferred the 235,000 yuan into the victim’s account. After the victim confirmed that the amount had been transferred to his account, he gave Liu HK$300,000 in cash, according to the spokesperson.
However, the victim received a notification from the bank two days later, informing him that a total of 235,000 yuan in his account was involved in phone fraud funds and, therefore, have been frozen by the bank, according to the spokesperson.
The victim suspected he had been cheated and reported the case to the police earlier this month when he saw Liu in a casino in Cotai. The victim told the police that he suspected Liu had deliberately deposited the “dirty money” obtained from phone scams into his account, according to the spokesperson.
The police discovered forged photos related to the case on Liu’s mobile phone, but Liu refused to cooperate, and also denied any wrongdoing, according to the spokesperson.
Liu was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing charges of fraud involving a considerably large amount of money, computer forgery and money laundering, according to the spokesperson.
