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Individuals Lose RMB325,680 via Currency Exchange Scams amid Golden Week in Macau

This period of the year is quite heated for the booming gambling hub of Macau as Golden Week recently came to its conclusion. Illegal activities related to it were also discovered following extensive operations taking place at casino venues when the Judiciary Police managed to detain a total of 19 people supposedly participating in illegal money exchange in Macau and Cotai.

Mainland China visitors are known to prefer the special region for its tempting offerings, but while they were seeking a good time in celebration of the National Day of the People’s Republic of China, other individuals were managed to take advantage of them. Scammers are proficient at currency exchange frauds and the local authorities were able to come across a total of four instances of such illegal activity.

Illegal Cash Exchange Galore During Golden Week

All of the said cases were discovered following a thorough investigation of several casino venues sprinkled across Macau. For security purposes, the exact casino venues have not been disclosed, but Mainland Chinese residents willing to exchange their cash money were involved. Amid the most heated casino operation, the Judiciary Police overseeing the field and governing venues from criminal activities observed fraudulent activities at several gaming venues.

Some 12 individuals were arrested as a result of the operation and taken for further interrogation. The authorities were seeking to find out more about the illegal activity. As a result two of them remained in custody for the conducted frauds. One of the situations occurred this Monday, as an individual was talked into exchanging some RMB76,000 to HKD. The criminals who convinced him to do so made him an offer he could not refuse featuring a competitive exchange rate.

In reality, it turned out that the cash money he received as a result of the exchange was all fake apart from the first and the last banknotes. The Cotai area witnessed two more exchange frauds pouring the victims’ real cash money into the same bank account.

The first individual fallen prey of this criminal operation had lost some RMB122,200, whereas the second one had to bid farewell to RMB70,880 as a result of the money scam. When all was said and done, the four illegal exchange situations led to a combined RMB325,680 stolen from victims.

Currency Exchange Frauds Sprinkled throughout Celebrations

Cotai area saw another operation powered by the collaboration between the Judiciary Police and the Unitary Police Service which led to the interrogation of a total of 20 people. The larger chunk of them was Mainland China locals and some 17 people were detained due to their alleged participation in fraudulent money exchange.

Over the span of the Golden Week Holiday, starting on 1st October, the international hotspot for gambling and entertainment managed to witness a significant surge in the tourists’ levels. It is no secret to anyone that the special region is a preferred location by thousands of mainland China residents willing to make the best of their holiday and potentially give their luck a try in the meantime.

More than 890,000 tourists made their way to the premium location, as the vast potential for entertainment and both gaming and non-gaming offerings attracted them. This figure could be defined as a year-on-year jump of 7.2 percent when compared to the performance registered over 2017 Golden week.

Throughout the seven days of increased gaming activity, the average revenue generated over the span of a single day reached $162 million. Such a performance could be defined as exceeding expectations and previous projections, marking an overall success for the celebration period at the gambling hub.



 Author: Hannah Wallace

Hannah Wallace has been part of our team since the website was launched. She has a master’s degree in IT.
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