A local man was arrested on Thursday at his home in Patane district for defrauding a man out of HK$60,000 which was the purported deposit for the purchase of the suspect’s flat in Zhongshan, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chong Kam Leong said at a press briefing yesterday.
The 48-year-old jobless suspect is surnamed Vong.
Zhongshan city in Guangdong province lies some 40 kilometres north of Macau.
According to Chong, a 66-year-old man reported to the Judiciary Police on February 19 last year that he had been cheated by Vong out of HK$60,000 which was a purported deposit for the purchase of the latter’s flat in Zhongshan. The victim told the police that Vong was introduced to him through a friend on December 13, 2019. The friend had told him that Vong was selling his flat in Zhongshan for “just” 600,000 yuan as he needed cash urgently.
Vong told the victim that he had committed an offence and was barred from leaving Macau because he owed the local government HK$60,000 in an unpaid fine. Vong suggested the victim lend him HK$60,000 so he could pay the fine so that he could go with him to Zhongshan to arrange for the property sale, and that the HK$60,000 would be used as the deposit for the flat. Vong showed the victim a property ownership certificate to earn his trust. The victim then gave Vong HK$60,000.
Chong said Vong and the victim signed a “property transfer of ownership agreement” on January 4 last year. After signing the agreement, the victim went to the Zhongshan Municipal Bureau of National Land Resources to doublecheck Vong’s property ownership just to play safe. He discovered that Vong had already sold his flat in 2017 for 800,000 yuan. The victim suspected that Vong’s property ownership certificate was the old one. Afterwards, the victim was unable to contact Vong. The victim decided to report the case to the police when he returned to Macau in February last year.
According to Chong, the Judiciary Police identified Vong and arrested him at his home in Patane district on Thursday. Vong admitted that the property ownership certificate was an old document. However, he claimed that he had only received HK$30,000 from the victim.
Vong was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) on Friday, facing fraud and document forgery charges, according to Chong.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chong Kam Leong looks on during yesterday’s press briefing at the PJ headquarters. Photo: Camy Tam
