Chinese conned in passport scam

In crime news of more recent vintage, two Chinese residents of Belize have complained to police that they were swindled by a man offering to sell them Belize passports. No, we’re not talking about Gabby Affif. Unlike Affif, this salesman couldn’t deliver. Tan Meng Ming, of Mahogany Street in Belize City, told police that he paid four thousand dollars to a Chinese man who told him he could deliver a passport for Tan’s wife in three days for a total cost of eight thousand dollars. That was in early August and Tan’s still waiting.

Around the same time, Tan Tie Jian fell for the same con, paying the man seven thousand, five hundred dollars as a fifty percent deposit on passports for his wife and daughter. He also handed over their Chinese passports. Needless to say, the citizenship salesman has not returned. In both cases the victims say they knew the passport agent and thought they could trust him.