Macau’s Judiciary Police recently cracked a fraud case involving gaming concessionaires, where four suspects utilized falsified bank account details to defraud two concessionaires of over HK$17.4 million (US$2.3 million) in “non-negotiable chips”.
According to case details released by the Judiciary Police, the four arrested individuals comprise three Hong Kong residents (two males and one female) and one local Macau male. The suspects allegedly applied for gambling loans from four concessionaires in early October 2025, using forged electronic bank account balance documents – including a counterfeit HK$48 million balance statement from a Hong Kong bank -for gambling purposes.
Two of the concessionaires declined to grant the loans, while the other two approved them. After obtaining the loans, the suspects withdrew the “non-negotiable chips” in multiple instalments and removed them from the casinos. One concessionaire reported the incident after detecting irregularities, claiming losses of approximately HK$8.4 million (US$1.1 million). The other company only became aware of the fraud after being notified by the Judiciary Police, reporting losses of around HK$9 million (US$1.2 million).
Upon taking over the investigation, the Judiciary Police swiftly identified the four suspected individuals. On the evening of 27 October, security personnel at a casino in Cotai intercepted the four suspects and notified police to attend the scene.
Officers promptly escorted them to the police station for questioning and subsequently arrested them. Investigations revealed that the criminal syndicate had entrusted some of the illicitly obtained “non-negotiable chips” to other fugitives for safekeeping. Authorities are currently making every effort to apprehend the remaining suspects and trace the whereabouts of the stolen funds, they explained.
The Judiciary Police indicated that one Hong Kong man was a key figure in the operation and police have formally charged him with offenses including “criminal group”, “fraud (considerably huge amount)” and “forgery of documents”. The case was referred to the Public Prosecutor’s Office this afternoon. During the operation, the Judiciary Police seized approximately HK$300,000 (US$38,600) suspected to be proceeds of crime, along with related evidence.
