Language barriers make non-locals more vulnerable to scams

The Macau government should increase awareness of crime prevention among non-local workers, particularly with regard to southeast Asian non-local workers, Ao Ieong Kuong Kau, Vice-President of the Macau United Citizens Association, has suggested, since language barriers make this group of people more vulnerable to crime and scams.

On Sunday, the association conducted a promotional campaign of crime prevention among Southeast Asians.

Currently, more than 60,000 non-local workers from southeastern Asian countries live in Macau, 20,000 of whom work as domestic helpers.

In Ao Ieong’s opinion, it is rather difficult for this group of people to receive information concerning crime prevention, labor rights, and civil protection due to their language and cultural backgrounds, as well as their working schedules.

“Fraud groups use Mandarin most of the time. Workers such as the Vietnamese do not speak Mandarin, therefore they often believe that [criminals] are [from] the immigration department asking them to provide documents or asking them to settle a payment,” said Ao Ieong.

“The Judiciary Police and the Public Security Police Force frequently conduct crime prevention promotional campaigns within the communities. The main reason they [Southeast Asian workers] are easily defrauded is related to their language, culture […] and their work. Quite regularly, their working schedules do not allow them to receive this information easily, leading them to naturally fall victim [to] fraud,” said Ao Ieong.

Another member of the association, Hoi Long Tong, expressed that there is an increasing trend of Southeast Asian workers committing crimes in Macau due to cultural differences and disparities between the legal system in their home and in Macau.

However, Hoi remarked that Southeast Asians’ contribution to Macau’s economy and social development is worth complimenting. JZ