A non-resident worker from Malaysia gave himself up to the police after cheating a money changer out of HK$1 million, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Choi Ian Fai said during a regular press conference on Tuesday.

The 33-year-old suspect surnamed Ngui works in a car beauty shop.

Choi said Ngui sent a message via WeChat on Thursday night to the victim, a local man who works as an alcohol beverages salesman and a money changer, requesting to exchange yuan into Hong Kong dollars.  

Both agreed to exchange 937,000 yuan for HK$1 million and Ngui sent a fake bank deposit confirmation to the victim’s smartphone purporting to show that the yuan had been deposited into the victim’s bank account in the mainland. 

Afterwards, according to Choi, the victim deposited HK$1 million into Ngui’s casino VIP account but later discovered that the money had not been received when he checked his online banking transaction record. He realised that the bank deposit confirmation he had received from Ngui was fake. He reported the case to the police on Friday.

Choi said the police are continuing their investigation into the whereabouts of the money and other possible suspects in the case.