{"id":777012571,"date":"2024-01-23T10:00:33","date_gmt":"2024-01-23T13:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777012571"},"modified":"2026-04-22T13:45:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T16:45:10","slug":"macau-8-arrested-over-counterfeit-chip-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/macau-8-arrested-over-counterfeit-chip-scam","title":{"rendered":"Macau: 8 arrested over counterfeit chip scam"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Three of the suspects were arrested in mainland China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Macau.- Eight people have been arrested for alleged involvement in a counterfeit chip scam that caused a casino to suffer losses of approximately HK$1.62m (US$210,000). A casino in Cotai reported a suspicious incident to the police on 20 January after a dealer identified a discrepancy during the collection of 25 chips, each with a face value of HK$10,000, <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Macau Business, an investigation revealed that suspects had altered the chips, originally valued at H$D100, to make them look like genuine HK$10,000 chips. The counterfeit chips were then exchanged and laundered at baccarat tables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While five suspects were intercepted at the casino, three were arrested in mainland China. According to officers in Macau, at least one suspect remains at large. The Judiciary Police seized 33 counterfeit chips with an estimated value of HK$1.62m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those arrested in Macau have denied their involvement. They claim that they had followed instructions and received compensation for participating in casino games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>See also:<\/strong>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/macau-suspicious-gaming-transactions-reach-a-new-record-high-in-2023\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Macau: suspicious gaming transactions reach a new record high in 2023<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Three of the suspects were arrested in mainland China.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":16477,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Eight individuals were arrested in Macau and mainland China for a sophisticated counterfeit chip scam that defrauded a Cotai casino of approximately HK$1.62m. The scheme involved altering lower-denomination chips to mimic HK$10,000 chips, which were then laundered at baccarat tables, highlighting ongoing financial crime challenges within the gaming vertical.","focusai_entities":"Macau Business, Judiciary Police","focusai_location":"Macau, Cotai, China","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.8), regulator (0.9), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (1.0), payments_fraud_aml (0.95), investor_analyst (0.75), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.85)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Casino Chip Security","query":"What advanced anti-counterfeiting technologies are Macau casinos implementing to prevent sophisticated chip alteration and laundering schemes?"},{"label":"Regulatory Response to Fraud","query":"How will Macau's gaming regulator enhance oversight and enforcement frameworks to address the rising trend of suspicious gaming transactions and financial crime within the jurisdiction?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16338,439],"tags":[23906],"class_list":["post-777012571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-asia-news","category-legal-news","tag-macau-casinos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777012571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777012571"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777012571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777012585,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777012571\/revisions\/777012585"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777012571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777012571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777012571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}