Illegal UnionPay transactions in Macau reach €239 million in 2016

Authorities are reporting that the number of unauthorised transactions using cards from the mainland China’s bank has almost doubled in the first half of 2016.

Macau.- For the first half of 2016, the Judiciary police (PJ) calculated a total of MOP2.1 billion (€239 million) worth of illegal transactions in the territory, Portuguese news agency Lusa reported. The amount is almost double the MOP1.22 billion (€140 million) calculated for the full year of 2015.

Between the first six months of 2016, PJ opened 12 probes into cases involving money transactions using unregistered UnionPay point of sale (POS) terminals. All of these cases were sent to the Public Prosecutions Office for further action.

Authorities have identified 31 people connected to the investigation, and 22 of them are from mainland China. They also seized 22 POS units that according to them have been tampered so that the UnionPay network will identify them as being registered and operated in mainland China, where the transaction fees are considerably lower compared to Macau.

China has been trying to crack down on illicit money channeled through Macau’s casinos for more than a year. In December, the Monetary Authority of Macau (AMCM) started monitoring mainland bank cards on real time to combat “illegal cross-border financial activities and money laundering.”

China’s UnionPay have started required holders of China-issued cards to submit a proof of their identity, that will be scanned before their purchase is confirmed. The real-time monitoring system was implemented on high-risk merchants near casinos, most of which are jewelry and watches merchants.