Judiciary Police says Southeast Asian casino job scam spreading to Macau

August 19, 2022 Macau Crime & Legal

Macau’s Judiciary Police (PJ) has confirmed at least five cases of residents being lured to Southeast Asia on the promise of high-paying casino jobs that are suspected to be fraudulent instead.

At a press conference on Thursday afternoon aimed at warning people of potential dangers, the PJ referenced a number of recent incidents of people from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan being lured to work in Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar only to be forced into illegal work, including online gambling and telecom fraud. Authorities said they had detected five cases of job-hunting fraud including one victim who had reached Laos.

Three women traveled from Macau to Cambodia on Thursday 18 August but were persuaded by police to abandon the trip.

However, “one man had already gone to Laos in July,” they said. “This man went to Laos because he was introduced to a career in public relations at a casino in Laos, earning US$5,000 a month.”

Fortunately, according to police, the man left Laos in August and is now in another country where he is safe.

Another man was introduced to work in Southeast Asia by a friend in August but did not accept. He recently learned that the job might have involved fraud and reported it to police.

“The jobs that the criminal syndicate introduced to the five people were all in casinos, and they were offered high salaries and good position as a condition,” the PJ explained.

“Criminal syndicates will use high salaries and good conditions to lure people to Southeast Asian countries such as Cambodia, Laos and other places to work, but many are detained and forced to carry out fraudulent work.

“There are even some incidents involving human trafficking. Police call on the public to remain vigilant.”

Similar cases have been reported in Hong Kong, where authorities said that 20 people have so far sought help after being tricked into working in Southeast Asia. Twelve of those people have been confirmed safe and 10 have returned to Hong Kong.