OVER 30 people were cheated into paying money to a Hong Kong man, who had promised to provide the victims with work permits in Hong Kong, according to a Shenzhen TV news program.

    One of the victims, surnamed Zhang, works in the jewelry industry in Shenzhen and earns 5,000 yuan (US$725) each month. She became acquainted with the Hong Kong man, surnamed Lam, who claimed that he could help her get a work permit in Hong Kong and help her find a job with a monthly wage of 15,000 yuan if she paid him 4,000 yuan.

    However, after she paid the money, she didn’t receive the work permit as Lam had promised. Later she found that there were many other people who had been fooled by Lam as well.

    Another victim, surnamed Li from Zhaoqing City, said that many of his friends and relatives followed his lead and paid the money to Lam’s intermediary, surnamed Liang, for the same reason. But Lam became unreachable after he received the money and Li was blamed by his friends and relatives.

    Zhang and Li both met Lam at Liang’s home. Liang’s wife, identified as Juan, showed the money transfer records to the reporter, saying that she and her husband were also victims because they transferred all of the money they had received from other victims to Lam’s girlfriend.

    Lam claimed that he owned a frozen food company in Hong Kong, but Juan said that they found the company had been shut down in 2014.

    In a bid to redeem the other victims’ money, Liang arranged a meeting with Lam on Saturday and pretended to offer him more money. Liang called the police after Lam showed up, and Lam was taken by the police to Donghu Police Station for investigation.

    A lawyer, Pan Xiang, said that the Hong Kong government was against illegal employment, and that people working in Hong Kong without legal work permits will face penalty or detention.

    (Zhang Yang)