A couple of cases emerged as the latest instances of gambling-related scams in Macau. This time, however, it was locals who deceived China mainlanders in what turned out to be a gambling fraud.
The Judiciary Police provided some details about the cases, according to which local residents have allegedly deceived the mainland residents over some gambling money.
Reportedly, the first case occurred in August 2017. It involves a 30-year-old man who allegedly used a sum amounting to about HK$10 million, which was originally meant to be used for another purpose. The man had not been given permission to use the money by its rightful owner, a China mainland resident who asked the Macau-based man to help him receive one of his friends who was set to visit Macau at a time when the money’s original owner was not able to be present.
The suspect agreed to help with the task and went to meet with the group of high-roller players in a Taipa-based casino. At the time, he notices that the person he was intended to receive had not arrived there yet. However, he did not inform the mainland man about that and lied to him that his friend had arrived and he was to bring him to the casino to gamble.
At the time, the fraud’s victim allowed the Macau resident to use his existing account in a local high-roller gambling room in order to arrange gambling credit amounting to HK$5 billion for his friend. After gambling and losing all the chips, the scammer called the victim once again and lied to him that his friend needed more chips to play. The man allowed him to raise the credit to a total of HK$10 million.
The fraudster then once again spent the entire gambling credit and called the victim to tell him the truth. The victim, however, lost contact with the scammer soon after the confession and formally accused the Macau resident in deliberately deceiving him to spend the money in a way which differed from the victim’s original intentions.
Another Gambling Money Scam Took Place in December 2018
As mentioned above, another case of fraud affecting a China mainlander also occurred.
According to allegations, a 39-year-old Macau resident faces accusations of using a similar scam to deceive a young woman, who is a mainland resident. The scam occurred in December 2018.
The victim explained to the Judiciary Police that the man was responsible for a high-roller gambling room in Macau. The suspect asked her to give him some money for a short period of time. The woman believed that she would benefit from the loan, so she gave the man an amount worth RMB100,000. However, several days later, the man asked to lend him more money in smaller amounts, which total worth was RMB70,000.
After some time, the victim asked the scammer to give her the money back and he provided several excuses that he was unable to do that. The woman then turned to the competent authorities. The police detained the fraudster while he was trying to exit Macau on February 28th.
He then acknowledged that he owed the woman the money but denied using a scam to deceit the victim. According to the Judiciary Police, however, there is enough evidence for the case to be forwarded to the MP.
