A woman from the Chinese mainland has been arrested for defrauding a female gambler of HK$770,000 by showing her forged bank deposit and transfer records at a Cotai casino, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokeswoman Leong Sok Man said during a regular press conference yesterday.
Leong said that the suspect, a 36-year-old surnamed Ji, said that she is unemployed.
According to Leong, Ji met the middle-aged female victim from the Chinese mainland at a casino in Cotai on Sunday and claimed that she had more than three million yuan in her bank account. Ji showed the victim a fake bank deposit screen to gain her trust.
The victim subsequently lent Ji HK$570,000, which the suspect gambled away. Ji then asked for another loan, claiming that she needed money to recover her losses. To convince the victim that she had repaid the earlier loan, Ji showed her forged bank transfer records and a fake transaction confirmation screenshot.
Trusting the records, the victim lent Ji a further HK$200,000, Leong added.
However, when the victim checked her bank account in the early hours of the following day, she discovered that no repayment had been received. Casino security personnel assisted her in reporting the case to the police, according to Leong.
PJ officers investigated and confirmed that the bank deposit and transfer screenshots were forged. They seized the suspect’s mobile phone and HK$40,000 worth of casino chips.
The victim reported a total loss equivalent to approximately 794,000 patacas.
Ji has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing charges of fraud and computer forgery.
This undated handout photo provided by the Judiciary Police (PJ) yesterday shows the suspect’s smartphone and casino chips worth HK$40,000.
