Four-year jail term for posing as flat owner
A man who impersonated a flat owner and scammed two prospective buyers out of HK$1.38 million in advance deposits was sentenced to jail yesterday.
In the District Court, Cheung Ching-fai, 36, was jailed for four years after pleading guilty to two counts of fraud and one count of conspiracy to defraud, in transactions in February and March of this year.
Prosecutor Franco Kuan told the court that Cheung had impersonated Chen Shen-hui, the real owner of the flat in Laguna Verde, Hung Hom.
Cheung's scam had originally attracted three buyers, but one was called off after the property agent was suspicious about Cheung's signature. The court heard that Chen paid HK$13 million for the flat in May last year. He offered it for lease at HK$30,000 a month and, since he lived on the mainland, left a key so his agent could show the property.
To manage his impersonation, Cheung made a fake mainland identification card and a false two-way permit bearing Chen's name. He used phoney proof of address to open a bank account at Standard Chartered Bank for the scam.
Kuan said the scam began when a property agent with Ricacorp Properties, Chung So-ling, noticed the flat had been put on sale for only HK$9.9 million, on her company's internet website in February. It included a mobile phone number for 'Chen'.
Because the price was so low, Chung called a long-standing customer of hers, Hau Pui-wah. Chung contacted Cheung and arranged a visit to the flat, and Cheung agreed to sell the flat to Hau for HK$8.8 million. Hau wrote a HK$880,000 deposit cheque made out to Cheung, posing as Chen, and a provisional contract was set for signing on March 1.
The second incident happened on February 20, when Ho Yuen-lan, a Centaline property agent, brought a prospective customer to the flat. But the deal was called off after Ho spotted discrepancies in Cheung's signature when compared to documents that bore the real owner's signature. Cheung also raised suspicions by refusing to have the deposit cheque made out to his solicitor.
In a third incident, a prospective buyer from Sunrise Properties gave Cheung a deposit cheque for HK$500,000.
The case came to light when the real owner, Chen, was informed by his solicitors that his flat had been sold and that follow-up actions were needed. Chen called the police.
Cheung told the police that he had acted on instructions from a man named Ming Gor, who was to pay him HK$10,000. In sentencing, Deputy Judge Josiah Lam Wai-kuen said the scam had been premeditated. Even though Cheung was not the mastermind, his culpability was as serious as the mastermind's, he said.
A managing director of Centaline Property, Louis Chan Wing-kit, said after the incident the firm had reminded staff members to stay alert.
