A local man was arrested on Monday for cheating 12 mainlanders between last December and January out of 174,000 yuan (215,000 patacas) by claiming that he could arrange for jobs in restaurants for them, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chong Kam Leong said at a press conference yesterday.
The 58-year-old local man surnamed Lo told the police that he is a casual worker on construction sites.
According to Chong, a local man, who works as a construction site electrician, went to a Judiciary Police station on May 31 to report that 12 mainlanders had been cheated out of between 12,000 and 18,000 yuan each totalling 174,000 yuan by a local man surnamed Lo who claimed that he could assist them to find a job in Macau as restaurant workers.
Chong said that the victim – the middleman in the case – told the police that he met Lo last June through a friend. Last November, Lo claimed that he knew someone working for a labour recruitment agency in Zape and that he could arrange jobs for mainlanders to work in Macau.
Lo asked the victim to introduce applicants to him, and Lo promised that he would pay 1,000 yuan as commission for each application. Each applicant was required to pay between 20,000 yuan and 26,000 yuan as a “handling fee” of which they needed to pay between 12,000 yuan and 18,000 yuan in advance, while the balance would be paid after they successfully got a job.
According to Chong, the victim introduced 12 mainlanders from his hometown, and handed over 174,000 yuan to Lo. Afterwards, Lo came up with excuses about the purported application process, and in March he told the victim that he was unable to arrange any jobs for the applicants. Lo also claimed that he was unable to repay the rest of the “fee” after only repaying 42,000 yuan. Lo told the victim that he had gambled away the remainder. The victim then decided to report the case to the police.
Chong said the Judiciary Police told Lo to report to a police station on Monday to assist in their investigation. Lo admitted to cheating the 12 mainlanders and he was unable to introduce any jobs for them. He also claimed that he had gambled away most of the ill-gotten gains.
Lo was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) on Monday, facing a charge of fraud involving a considerable amount, officially defined as exceeding 150,000 patacas, according to Chong.
