Crime | Thirty people targeted in employment offer fraud

A male resident, surnamed Kong, was arrested for having defrauded more than eight people who believed the suspect could find them jobs in Macau, the Judiciary Police (PJ) revealed yesterday during a press conference.

Kong is a 63-year-old unemployed Macau resident. According to the police, he commenced his fraudulent activities in October 2016, paused them in September this year, and was arrested on November 23.

The eight victims include one resident. This notwithstanding, a total of 20 to 30 people might have been victims of Kong’s frauds, the PJ has estimated.

Starting from October 2016, Kong commenced by telling people he could assist the victims’ relatives and friends getting jobs in Macau. 

The suspect made up various stories, for example, claiming he could help non-
local people get employed by the Macau airport and hotels to work in security and cleaning roles.

The victims, having trusted Kong, paid him fees between MOP2,000 to MOP4,000 as job introduction fees. 

On November 23, following reports from victims, the police found Kong in a casino located in Taipa.

Kong admitted that he had no ability to find jobs for the victims, but since he knew that many people hope to work in Macau, he made up these lies and committed fraud.

In total, he received approximately RMB 140,000. He has already spent all the money on gambling and daily expenses.

Earlier, a former police officer was fired after he was found defrauding people, resorting to the same methods as Kong.

The officer was dismissed after the PJ discovered he had defrauded 320 mainlanders who thought he could get them a job in Macau.  In total, the former police officer obtained 1.5 million RMB from his victims. 

The former police officer even appealed to the Court of Final Appeal to get his job back after being fired by the PJ in July.

14-year-old girl lost MOP25,000 following online stranger

A 14-year-old local girl lost RMB23,200 to a stranger who claimed to be able to charge her mobile game account, the PJ reported yesterday.

On November 3, the victim downloaded a mobile game and opened an account in said game.

On November 15, on an online chatting group, the victim met the suspect who claimed to be able to charge the victim’s game account. The victim initially gave the suspect RMB23,200 to charge her game account, having then been ordered by the suspect to give an extra RMB8,000 on November 25.

Having no more funds, the victim asked her mother for the money. It was the mother who, upon realizing her daughter had been a target of a crime, reported to the police.

two more fall victim to phone scam and lose money

TWO MORE residents have lost money after falling victim to phone scams in which people speaking Mandarin pretended to be mainland police officers or representatives from mainland prosecution offices. Both cases occurred on November 25. One victim lost RMB25,800 while the second lost RMB8,200.  Both victims noticed they were being deceived when the criminals carried out a second attempt, asking the victims to transfer more money.