A local man was arrested on Thursday for scamming a mainlander by claiming that he could help him get a local work permit (colloquially known as “blue card”), Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lou Chan Fai said in a regular conference on Monday.
Lou said that the 42-year-old suspect surnamed Ao Ieong told the police that he is jobless, while the victim surnamed Zhang, also jobless, is from the mainland.
According to Lou, a friend of Zhang introduced him to Ao Ieong in April when Ao Ieong told Zhang that he could get him a job as a local sales-representative, but told Zhang that he needed to give him 99,000 yuan (113,540 patacas) as a “security deposit”. Zhang gave Ao Ieong the money, and Ao Ieong “promised” that he would return the whole sum to Zhang regardless of whether the application was successful or not.
Lou said that after Ao Ieong had received the money, he kept coming up with various excuses and delayed the purported application process. Zhang eventually lost contact with him.
Ao Ieong was arrested when he entered Zhuhai through the Hengqin joint border checkpoint on Thursday, Lou said. Under questioning, Ao Ieong claimed that he scammed Zhang because he was “destitute,” and claimed that he had spent all the money on his daily expenses.
Ao Ieong was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) on Friday, facing a fraud charge, according to Lou.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lou Chan Fai looks on during Monday’s regular press conference. – Photo: William Chan
