Two arrested in Hong Kong over scam in which gang cheated jewellery shops out of HK$600,000 worth of diamonds
- Fraudsters posing as customers placed orders for diamonds through shops’ websites and fooled staff into believing money had been deposited for goods
- Gang then sent someone to the shops to collect the goods on the same day
Two suspected members of a fraud syndicate that used bogus bank slips and bounced cheques to cheat four jewellery shops in Hong Kong out of HK$600,000 (US$77,000) worth of diamonds have been arrested.
Police made the arrests on Thursday, less than 24 hours after two Hongkongers were duped out of two second-hand watches – a Patek Philippe and a Rolex – using the same ruse. The two watches were worth more than HK$300,000.
Detectives from the Yau Tsim district crime squad were investigating whether the same gang of fraudsters was behind the six cases.
According to police, four jewellery shops in Tsim Sha Tsui and Yau Ma Tei were cheated out of diamonds worth HK$600,000 in December and January.
A police source said fraudsters posing as consumers placed orders for diamonds through the shops’ websites and made cheque deposits to the jewellers’ bank accounts.
“They then sent bogus bank deposit slips to the shops through the WhatsApp messaging service to deceive staff into believing the transfers were made in cash,” the source said.