Macao's Judiciary Police have arrested two men who allegedly attempted to deceive a local couple through telephone into paying a ransom for their kidnapped son, the Macao Post Daily reported on Thursday.

The case was reported to the police after the couple received a phone call on Tuesday from one of the suspects, who demanded a ransom of 200,000 patacas (US$25,000) for their abducted son. The two suspects were arrested when the mother of the son in question delivered the ransom to them, the daily quoted a Judiciary Police spokesman as saying.

The two suspects include a 42-year-old unemployed man surnamed Wu from Taiwan and a 26-year-old young man from the Chinese mainland who worked at a local net cafe, according to the spokesperson.

The spokesperson also said that police have received reports of 12 similar cases in the past nine days, which may be masterminded by a large criminal group from Taiwan and coordinated by persons from the Chinese mainland in Macao.

The two suspects have been transferred to Macao's Public Prosecution Office for further investigation.