https://www.macaupostdaily.com/news/26070

Two local men were arrested on Wednesday for fraud and money laundering, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lei Chi Hou said during a special press conference yesterday.

Lei identified the suspects as two 41-year-old residents surnamed Lam and Cheong who told police that they are unemployed and a businessman, respectively.

According to Lei, on February 12, the Judiciary Police received a report from a local man saying that he was defrauded in an investment scam, resulting in a loss of HK$2.45 million.

Lei said that the victim had become virtually acquainted with a purported female via a phone chat app, WhatsApp. The “woman” told him that “she” had a way to earn money by investing in “gas gift cards”. His account showed a “profit” of 4,855 yuan (5,480 patacas) after he had transferred HK$120,000 to a Hong Kong bank account. Thereafter he transferred another HK$400,000 to the account. The “woman” then told the victim that “she” could send her colleague to receive his future investments in cash, Lei said.

According to Lei, the victim could no longer contact the “woman” after handing HK$1.95 million to two men appearing to be South Asians at his home in Areia Preta district. After losing contact with the “woman”, he finally decided to report the case of the Judiciary Police.

Upon investigation, Lei said, PJ officers confirmed that the two South Asian men left Macau after they had handed over HK$1.95 million to Lam in a flat in a residential estate in Coloane, rented by Cheong, which the duo used as the “base” for their investment fraud but not for residential purposes.

PJ officers searched the “base” on Wednesday, seizing around 35,000 patacas worth of Thai baht, South Korean won, Vietnamese dong, and Philippine pesos, along with 12 mobile phones, five laptops, and three counterfeit money detectors, but no trace of the suspects was found.

On the same day, PJ officers arrested Lam and Cheong in their residential flats in Fai Chi Kai district and Coloane, respectively, seizing HK$947,310 in cash and 10 mobile phones. The duo refused to cooperate.

At the time of yesterday’s press conference, the Judiciary Police were still looking for the two South Asian suspects and the whereabouts of the fraudulently obtained funds.

The duo were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing charges of fraud and money laundering.