By Poyi (Natalie) Leung
A 40-year-old Macau resident was arrested by the Judiciary Police (PJ) over allegedly cheating 300,000 patacas out of a job-searching scam.
Spokesman Suen Kam Fai said a woman reported to police in mid November that the suspect, surnamed Vong, cheated her 110 mainland friends and relatives out of 300,000 patacas by claiming that he could help them get a job and work permit in Macau.
Vong said to the victims each of them had to pay him 10,000 patacas for the job arrangement. And of these, a 3,000 pataca deposit had to be paid in advance for getting the work permits.
Mr Suen said the suspect tried to convince the mainlanders about the purported job arrangement by giving counterfeit work permit application forms for them to fill.
However, the 40-year-old had never got the victims any jobs and later told them he failed to obtain the work permits and promised to refund them the money.
When the victims later asked for the refund again, Mr Suen said the suspect then denied ever having received any of their money.
The man was arrested by the PJ on Wednesday when he was about to leave Macau.
After a house search in the northern district, Mr Suen said police seized fake work permit application forms and some of the victims’ identification documents which the suspect obtained for pretending he was organising the work permits.
The suspect will be sent to the Public Prosecutions Office today.
