The Judiciary Police (PJ) arrested a man and a woman from Indonesia on Monday for fraud and money laundering, PJ spokesman Chao Teng Hin said during a special press conference yesterday.
Chao identified the suspects as a 38-year-old male waste collector surnamed Ho and a 45-year-old female store clerk surnamed Lilian. The victims are a middle-aged mainland woman and a young Vietnamese woman.
According to Chao, the mainland woman reported to the police on February 3 that she had become online friends with a man via social media on September 20, 2025. The man persuaded the victim to invest in a gold fund. On January 13, 2026, following the man’s instructions, the victim registered an account online to invest and transferred 28,000 yuan to a bank account he designated. The victim later received a purported profit of 675 yuan. The man then enticed her to raise her investment. The victim promptly transferred 49,000 yuan to the designated account and 74,000 patacas to Ho’s account for the investment.
Chao noted that when the victim asked to withdraw her principal and supposed profit, the man demanded that she first pay 91,000 patacas as “tax”. After paying the entire amount, she was still unable to retrieve her principal and “profit”. Suspecting she had been scammed, the victim reported a total loss of 249,000 patacas to the police.
Chao said that Ho had received 74,000 patacas from the mainland victim as well as 18,000 patacas from the Vietnamese victim. The police apprehended Ho on Monday near a bank. Under questioning, Ho claimed that the amounts were merely collected on behalf of his fellow countrywoman, Lilian, and that he had already forwarded the entire sum to her.
The police contacted the Vietnamese victim and confirmed that she had also fallen victim to an online cryptocurrency investment scam in mid-January, depositing funds into Ho’s account at the scammer’s request, resulting in a loss of 18,000 patacas. The police later arrested Lilian near the Red Market. The police confirmed that Lilian had received a total of 160,000 patacas from both victims and other potential victims. Under questioning, Lilian claimed that these funds were received on behalf of a male online acquaintance.
The duo were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, both facing charges of fraud and money laundering.
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the two hooded money laundering suspects from Indonesia to a PJ van outside the PJ headquarters in Zape yesterday. – Photo: Ada Lei
