A mainlander has been arrested as his company allegedly scammed a financial institution on the mainland out of US$5 million (about 40 million patacas), the Judiciary Police (PJ) have announced at a special press conference at their headquarters.
A PJ spokesperson identified the suspect as a 60-year-old surnamed Feng claiming to be a businessman running an art trading company registered in Macau.
The spokesperson didn’t reveal the full name of the company, but said that part of the company’s name was “art bank”. The company，which is located in Zape, is only authorised to engage in the selling and buying of artwork but not in any form of banking services.
In mid-2016 representatives of a mainland financial institution came to Macau to file a report to the Judiciary Police (PJ), suspecting that it had been scammed by a fake bank.
They told PJ officers that the financial institution had applied for a loan of US$500 million from the “bank” in Macau in 2014. According to the spokesperson, the “bank” asked the institution to pay “interest” amounting to US$5 million in advance, before getting the loan.
The institution then transferred US$5 million to a bank account. After the remittance, Feng faxed a proof of funds (POF) to the financial institution, which appeared to show the availability of US$5 billion, issued by a bank in Hong Kong. It was later discovered that the POF was bogus, after which the financial institution couldn’t reach Feng anymore.
The spokesperson did not reveal the name of the financial institution.
Last Thursday, the Judiciary Police managed to locate Feng in Macau. He claimed that the US$5 million was the capital provided by a shareholder. When asked why the amount was transferred from the mainland institution, Feng said that “he didn’t know”.
From the company’s office in Nape and Feng’s flat, the Judiciary Police seized a large number of counterfeit banking documents, including fake POFs, the spokesperson said.
The suspect was transferred to the Public Prosecution Office (MP) on Friday for further investigation, facing charges of aggravated fraud.
The spokesperson said the Judiciary Police believe that the US$5 million have already been transferred to another bank account, adding that PJ officers were still trying to confirm the whereabouts of the money and looking for more suspects in the case.
