After a peculiar case was revealed by the Macau Judiciary Police of a local teenager rescued in Mexico after being the target of a phone scam, many details concerning this peculiar case are still to be uncovered.
Earlier this year, in a press conference organized on April 9 and dedicated to a scam prevention campaign, PJ revealed the case of a local teenage girl scammed out of RMB3.5 million ($484,456) by fraudsters posing as mainland police officers.
According to authorities, scammers convinced the victim that she was implicated in a money-laundering case and needed to hide.
The young woman was convinced to pay the money in order to prove her innocence in relation to the accusation of money laundering, having thus made transfers to several bank accounts, with a total value of RMB 3.5 million.
Believing their threats and alledgelly fearing for her life, she hid herself from her family members in five to six countries and regions, ending up in an undisclosed remote area of Mexico.
Her disappearance was reported by her father on March 17, prompting a rescue operation by the PJ, with the victim being rescued on March 31.
Two days after the press conference MNA reached out to police authorities to know more information about this peculiar case, namely: more details concerning the police cooperation with Chinese, Mexican, and international authorities; the victim’s travels abroad, and where she had hidden herself; and if any information is known on the alleged criminal group that targetted her.
However, not much additional information was provided in a reply only issued almost a month after MNA submitted its questions.
It was revealed, however, that in the latter half of March 2024, after PJ received news that a victim had traveled to Mexico, the police department immediately activated its emergency response system, and a ‘team of officers, accompanied by the victim’s father, traveled to Mexico to rescue the victim’.
‘With the assistance of the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China in Macau Special Administrative Region, the Ministry of Public Security of the People’s Republic of China, and the Mexican Police, we were able to successfully rescue the victim,’ PJ told MNA.
Although previous information disclosed in the press conference alleged cooperation with the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL), no details concerning this cooperation were mentioned by police authorities in their reply.
INTERPOL Beijing has two sub-bureaus, each with delegated regional authority in the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.
PJ also indicated it had opened a specialized investigation into the case and informed the Public Prosecutions Office, as required by law, with no further details.
