Crime | Man accused of selling elderly neighbor’s e-voucher

The Public Security Police Force (PSP) has charged one man with the sale of another person’s e-voucher. The victim is a senior citizen aged in his 70s.
During yesterday’s joint police press conference, the PSP reported a fraud case relating to the government’s e-voucher scheme. The suspect is a local man, surnamed Leong who is unemployed and in his 40s. The suspect and the victim are neighbors and they live in the north of Macau, near the Border Gate.
The senior citizen reported the case to the police authority on May 10. According to the PSP, on April 30, the suspect paid a visit to the victim’s house on a false pretext, aiming to take possession of the victim’s e-voucher.
According to the victim’s statement, Leong told the victim he needed to purchase one product worth 500 patacas and wanted to borrow the victim’s e-voucher to buy the product. At that time, Leong claimed that he didn’t have enough cash to buy the product by using the e-voucher and the cash together. Leong promised to return the card to the older man on May 2.
However, on May 1, Leong informed the victim that the borrowed e-voucher had been sold to a friend of Leong’s. The victim consequently quarreled with Leong and demanded Leong to return the e-voucher by May 4.
On May 4, Leong failed to show up. On May 7, the victim attempted to contact Leong but failed. Afterwards, the victim could not trace Leong, having reported the case to the PSP on May 10.
On May 10, the PSP found Leong in a local hospital. Leong admitted that he was still in possession of the old man’s e-voucher but denied all other accusations.
Leong portrayed himself as being innocent of the accusation. He claimed to have paid 4,000 patacas to buy both the victim’s e-vouchers, the current and the future one. Leong also claimed that he had sold both e-vouchers in addition to his own for 4,800 patacas in total.
The sale was made near a casino, he said. The 4,800 patacas were all lost on gambling. Leong was reluctant to reveal the location and the time of the sale as well as to identify the buyer.
Believing that Leong had deceived the older man, the PSP referred Leong to the prosecution authority under the charge of fraud. The PSP also contacted the Economic Bureau (DSE), which pursued Leong’s legal responsibility for the sale.
Earlier this month, the Judiciary Police (PJ) charged a 36-year-old local man for selling the government e-voucher. Government regulations ban e-voucher sales. Once such conduct is detected, the concerned individuals must return all proceeds to the government.