The Judiciary Police (PJ) of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) have arrested a woman claiming to be a man for allegedly cheating one of her Internet friends, the local Macao Post Daily reported on Monday.

The newspaper quoted a PJ spokesman as saying that the suspect was apprehended on Friday after a 24-year-old female clerk had reported to police last September that she was cheated out of 180,000 patacas (22,784 U.S. dollars) in an Internet-based fraud.

The victim told police she had fallen in love with a man surnamed "Chan" on the Internet in the middle of 2008, an online friendship that went on for about six months.

During that period, she stole money from her family for purchasing valuable presents for her online boyfriend "Chan." A woman identifying herself as "Ah-Sou" showed up to pick up the presents every time. The victim told police she never saw her online boyfriend "Chan" in person.

Later, a person claiming to be a woman surnamed "Lam" blackmailed the victim through MSN messages, threatening that she would tell the victim's family about the incident if she did not pay her some money. The victim then paid 50,000 patacas (6,329 U.S. dollars) in cash and brought presents for the woman claiming to be surnamed "Lam."

The victim later suspected that she had been cheated and reported her suspicions to police. According to the PJ spokesman, it turned out that "Chan," "Ah-Sou" and "Lam" were the same person.

The suspect has been transferred to the Public Prosecution for further investigations and possible arraignment on fraud charges.

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