Internet Poker Scam in Macau

Tuesday December 31,2013 :  MACAU POLICE WARN ON INTERNET POKER SCAM
 
Crook offers online poker chips for sale…but doesn’t deliver.
 
Judiciary Police on the gambling island of Macau have warned internet users playing on illegal websites that a scammer is at work, reports the Macau Daily News.
 
The crook's modus operandi is to log on to internet poker sites and communicate through their systems, or poker forums, with punters, offering to sell poker chips for what initially appears to be a good price but then escalates once a victim has been hooked.
 
In an example, the police revealed details in which a 21-year-old Macau online punter was offered over 10,000 chips at Macau Pataca 600 (about $75). The victim agreed and deposited the money in an online bank account, only to be told that he would have to deposit a further 1,800 pataca to get the chips.
 
Having agreed to the second deposit, the victim was then told that he would have to pay in another 3,000 pataca, at which point he became suspicious and reported the matter to the police, only to discover that the fraudster, the bank account and his money, had disappeared.