Overstayer performs scam simulating job opportunity

A man from the mainland who has been illegally overstaying in the Macau region since October last year has been accused of defrauding another person from the mainland, over an alleged job offer to a manager in a hotel in Cotai, the Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesperson said.

According to the victim, he was told by the suspect in early February of a job opening in a managerial position in a hotel in Cotai, which was of interest to the victim.

After contacting the suspect, the victim was told that he needed to pay some RMB50,000 as a fee to secure the job and to pay for document processing.

At least 50% of this amount was to be paid in advance and the balance was to be paid after the documents were finalized.

At the time, the victim paid RMB3,000 by an electronic transfer to the suspect, arranging a meeting a few days later in Macau to pay the remaining amount and to process some documents.

At this meeting on February 19, the suspect posed as a third person to the victim, saying that he was a friend of the person that had contacted him, and collected an additional RMB24,500 from the victim, telling him that in about 40 days the documents would be ready and he could start the job.

After this meeting, the victim lost contact with the alleged agent and filed a complaint with the PJ on suspicion of fraud.

On April 21, the suspect, while attempting to leave Macau via the Qingmao border, was intercepted by the Public Security Police Force and handed over to the PJ for investigation.

When questioned by the PJ, he admitted to the crime, saying that he came to Macau in October last year to gamble but lost all his money, and since then had been trying to find ways to make money in an attempt to recover his casino losses.

He said that he used the money collected from the victim to play in the casino, and had lost all the money extorted from the victim, amounting to RMB27,500.