A conman was jailed for 21 months and 10 days yesterday after pleading guilty to cheating an old couple out of $1,100 and trying to swindle them out of a further $18,000.
District Court judge Ian Carlson jailed Tam Chuen-chun, 31, a two-way permit holder, for obtaining property by deception and for attempting to obtain property by deception.
Tam approached Ngan Ming-sing, 71, at a shop on Prince Edward Road, Kowloon City, on December 13, prosecutor Vinci Lam said. Tam asked Mr Ngan, who was guarding the shop, to pawn a gold ring for him as he could not do so without a Hong Kong identity card. Mr Ngan agreed to help and pawned it for $200.
Tam then offered to sell him 200 'genuine gold rings' at $100 each. Mr Ngan paid Tam $1,100 for 11 rings that Tam said his wife had. Tam's 'wife' then appeared.
The pair persuaded Mr Ngan to buy more of the rings and it was decided they would accompany him to his Tsz Wan Shan home.
The woman showed Mr Ngan and his wife, Chan Chor-hing, more rings, which she claimed were worth $200 each. There were 200 rings in all, she said.
