A local man was arrested at a flat in the northern district on Thursday for cheating a mother out of 100,000 patacas by claiming that he had “a way to get her children enrolled in the primary school of her choice”, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokeswoman Lei Hon Nei said during a regular press conference on Friday.
The Judiciary Police received a report from the mother in March, pointing out that as she wanted her twin daughters to be admitted to her preferred primary school, she contacted the 46-year-old suspect surnamed Choi in January 2021 and paid him a “referral fee” of 100,000 patacas the following month for enrolment, Lei said, adding that the victim contacted Choi again in July 2021 after discovering that the list of students accepted to her preferred school did not include her daughters, but Choi told the victim that he would arrange for the two girls to attend other primary schools temporarily, before assisting them to be transferred to her preferred primary school.
Lei noted that the victim lost contact with Choi in March this year, so she reported the case to the police.
Lei said that PJ officers arrested Choi, who told the police that he worked as a food delivery man, at his home in the northern district on Thursday. Under questioning, Choi admitted to cheating the victim out of 100,000 patacas, claiming that he had gambled away the money.
Choi has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing a charge of fraud involving a considerable amount of money.
DSEDJ urges parents to apply to school in ‘right way’
Meanwhile, in response to the fraud case, the Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ) released a statement on that day, urging parents to apply to schools for their children in “the right way” only, such as by checking the official channels provided by the bureau or schools for admission information, so as to avoid any financial losses.
The statement said that all of Macau’s schools have a sound enrolment mechanism at all levels of education, adding that in order to facilitate the enrolment of school-age children, the bureau had introduced a central registration scheme for the first enrolment of young children in 2016, while in order to provide parents with a clear view of the enrolment information of local non-tertiary education schools at different stages of education, including enrolment requirements and methods, as well as the grade levels, the bureau releases annually all the relevant “Enrolment Information” through its website on January 1.
In the statement, the bureau insisted that there were sufficient school places in Macau, urging those who need to seek assistance in enrolling their children in schools to call the bureau during office hours to apply for a consultation related to the enrolment capacity and arrangement service on 8397 2309.
