A middle-aged non-resident woman fell victim to a “fake police” scam last year, losing a total of 1.47 million patacas, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Ho Wai Lok said during a special press conference yesterday.
Ho did not reveal the victim’s habitual place of residence.
Ho identified the two suspects from the Chinese mainland as a 41-year-old man surnamed Zhao, who claimed to work as a point-of-sale (POS) system promoter, and a 37-year-old unemployed man surnamed Wang.
According to Ho, the victim received phone calls while visiting relatives in Macau from individuals purporting to be local immigration officers and mainland police officials. The fraudsters instructed her to enable a screen-sharing function on her mobile phone and make nine separate transfers to several Hong Kong bank accounts under the pretext of a “funds investigation”.
The victim eventually realised she had been duped and reported the case to the police.
Following an investigation, Judiciary Police tracked one of the target bank accounts, which had received 54,000 patacas of the stolen funds and was also linked to three similar fraud cases in Hong Kong. Officers intercepted Zhao on Saturday when he entered Macau via the Barrier Gate checkpoint. Zhao admitted to receiving 2,000 yuan to open the account in Hong Kong on behalf of a fraud syndicate, Ho said.
Acting on information provided by Zhao, police arrested his accomplice, Wang, at the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal on Sunday as he was preparing to exit Macau. Officers seized six bank cards, HK$51,000 in cash, and four smartphones during the operation, Ho added.
The two suspects were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing charges of fraud involving a considerable amount and money laundering.
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the two hooded suspects to a PJ van outside the PJ headquarters in Zape yesterday. – Photo: Sherwin Hng
