The Public Security Police (PSP) arrested a local taxi driver on Saturday for cheating a passenger out of HK$900, PSP spokeswoman Cheong Im Sim said during a regular press conference yesterday.
Cheong identified the suspect as a male in his sixties surnamed Lei.
According to Cheong, the police received a report on September 23 from a mainland man who said that he had taken a taxi from Rua de Cantão (廣州街) in Zape to the Qingmao pedestrian border checkpoint earlier that day, with a fare of 63 patacas. After the victim paid HK$1,003 in cash, Lei returned only 40 patacas in change. The victim left the taxi without counting.
Later, when the victim counted the change, he realised that Lei had only returned 40 patacas, significantly less than expected. Suspecting that he had been scammed, the victim immediately reported a loss of HK$900 to the police.
Through their CCTV surveillance and the taxi’s video footage, the police identified Lei as the suspect and summoned him to a police station on Saturday. Under questioning, Lei admitted to defrauding the victim out of greed.
Lei has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing a fraud charge.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) yesterday shows a PSP officer escorting the fraud suspect into a police station.
