Macau detects 164 cases of casino-related fraud
The Office of the Secretary for Security in Macau reported 164 casino-related fraud cases in the first nine months of the year.
Macau.- The Office of the Secretary for Security in Macau has shared crime statistics from the first nine months of the year, revealing that the number of casino-related fraud cases between January and September was 164, the same number recorded in 2018. Some 92 cases were related to the exchange of currencies.
In the first nine months of 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic haltered the city’s tourism industry and casino trade, Macau recorded just 60 casino-related frauds. There were 291 such crimes in the first nine months of 2019 and 175 in 2018.
In recent years, Macau’s security agencies have identified illegal currency exchange activities as a major threat. From January to September this year, police identified 1,255 people from mainland China who were suspected of engaging in illegal currency exchange businesses. Compared with the same period in 2020, there is an increase of 696.
The Office of the Secretary for Security noted that no counterfeit gaming chips have been found since the first quarter when the face value of counterfeit coins detected was HK$2m (US$257,582).
In April, 103 people were arrested in Macau after a joint operation between the city’s Judiciary Police and mainland Chinese security units.
Police said that those arrested were suspected of cheating gamblers who sought to exchange Chinese yuan into Hong Kong dollars in or around Macau casinos. Some MOP10m (US$1.25m) was reported to have been lost to the ring in 73 cases.
The Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) recently praised Macau’s casino operators’ efforts to comply with Covid-19 countermeasures and cooperation to fight against gaming-related crimes.
