Salesmen jailed four months over con

A salesman was jailed for four months yesterday for swindling a guest out of a HK$100 lai see packet at a wedding banquet at one of the city's top hotels.

Wong Chi-kong, 34, who admitted the fraud, was acquitted of a theft charge which alleged he obtained HK$130,000 from a bank customer by purporting to offer priority deposit services. He was also convicted of resisting arrest outside his home in Kwai Shing East Estate, Kwai Chung, on June 3 and was jailed for an extra two months.

Kowloon City Court heard that Wong recruited two women, aged 19 and 22, through the internet to act as game show hosts. They went to the banquet in the ballroom of the Island Shangri-La hotel on the night of December 30 where they were joined by another woman.

Wong told the three women they were there to host a game show and they distributed red packets to six to seven tables, asking each guest to put in HK$100 for a lucky draw. They collected the packets 10 minutes later but the draw never happened.

The scam came to light after one of the guests asked the groom about the draw when the banquet ended and a police report was made. Only one guest lodged a complaint when the police arrived as most of the others had already left.

Deputy Magistrate Raymond Wong Kwok-fai acquitted Wong on the theft charge, saying he found the evidence from two witnesses who allegedly handled the cash questionable. In his ruling, the deputy judge said Wong allegedly hired two women as customer service officers after they answered an online advert.