PHP 8.1.9 (tried also 7.4.3) VARIANT property assignment causes error (no error in equivalent VBScript)

Description

Note: MSMQ is a standard COM library present in all Windows versions.

The following code:

<?php
$msg = new COM("MSMQ.MSMQMessage", null, CP_UTF8);
$msg->Body = 123;

Resulted in this output:

PHP Fatal error:  Uncaught com_exception: Source: MSMQMessage
Description: The parameter is incorrect.  in C:\Temp\test.php:3
Stack trace:
#0 {main}
  thrown in C:\Temp\test.php on line 3

But I expected NO OUTPUT AT ALL.

Equivalent VBScript code, which does not cause any errors:

Set msg = CreateObject("MSMQ.MSMQMessage")
msg.Body = 123

Both files attached: test.zip

PHP Version

php-8.1.9-nts-Win32-vs16-x64

Operating System

Windows 10 x64