Two Singaporean investors have learned the hard lesson that, when it comes to investing in Macau casino VIP gaming rooms, the rule is ‘trust, but verify.’

On Monday, Macau’s Judiciary Police announced that a 52-year-old man had been arrested on March 2 while attempting to flee the special administrative region. The man stands accused of defrauding two Singaporean women out of US$100k based on bogus claims of affiliation with a Macau casino VIP room.

Sometime last year, the two women met with the suspect in Singapore, during which he pitched them on the benefits of investing in Macau’s VIP gambling sector. On December 18, the women traveled to Macau, where they visited an unidentified Macau casino’s VIP room, which the suspect claimed was run by a company he controlled.

Convinced, each woman ponied up $50k, which was deposited in an account set up with the VIP room. Sadly, the women accepted the suspect’s guarantee that there was no immediate need for contracts to be signed, insisting that such formalities could be handled at a later date.