Victim loses 2.18 million in Portugal visa scam
The Judiciary Police (PJ) arrested a local businessman yesterday on suspicion of breach of trust, PJ spokesman Lei Chi Hou announced during a special press conference yesterday.
Lei identified the suspect as a 62-year-old local man surnamed Iao. The victim involved in the case is a middle-aged man from the Chinese mainland.
According to Lei, the victim was introduced to Iao in July last year, who claimed to be the head of a media company in Macau. Iao claimed that he could assist the victim in obtaining a Portuguese business visa for a fee of 3 million yuan (3.57 million patacas), promising to complete the process by February this year. After both parties signed a deal, the victim transferred a total of 2.5 million yuan to a designated account between September and October as instructed, leaving a remaining balance of 500,000 yuan to be paid upon completion of the deal.
Lei said that by early this year, the purported visa had still not been “processed”, and Iao continued to delay matters with various excuses. The victim then directly contacted the intermediary company responsible for handling the immigration procedures, only to learn that Iao had only paid an initial deposit of €41,000 (377,733 patacas) in October last year. No further payments had been made since then, resulting in the suspension of the visa application. The victim subsequently reported the case to the police last Thursday.
PJ officers arrested Iao yesterday at a flat in Cotai. According to Lei, PJ officers confirmed that Iao had misappropriated the visa processing fees paid by the victim to repay his personal debts; the estimated loss of the victim was around 2,180,000 yuan.
Iao was transferred to the Public Prosecution Office (MP) yesterday to face a charge of breach of trust.
According to Article 199 of the Macau Penal Code, the suspect faces a jail term of between one and eight years.
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the hooded local suspect, surnamed Iao, to a PJ van outside the PJ headquarters in Zape yesterday. – Photo: Armindo Neves
