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.
He said the gang then sent someone to the shops to collect the goods on the same day. The shop employees realised they had been scammed when the cheques bounced, police said.
After poring over CCTV footage, police identified two suspects who the gang hired to collect the items. On Thursday morning, officers arrested a 17-year-old boy at his home in Sheung Shui and a 25-year-old man in Cheung Sha Wan. Both are unemployed.
“Investigation revealed the two suspects were paid HK$1,000 each for the job,” the source said.
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Officers seized clothes the two suspects were wearing at the time they collected diamonds from the shops. But no diamonds were recovered in the raids.
Police arrested the two local residents for conspiracy to defraud – an offence that carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in jail.
On Thursday evening, the pair were being held at Tsim Sha Tsui police station for questioning and had not been charged. A police spokesman said the investigation was continuing and further arrests were possible.
Earlier this week, two Hongkongers sold luxury watches worth more than HK$300,000 on the internet separately. They realised they were cheated when cheques bounced and they went to Tsim Sha Tsui police station to make reports on Wednesday.
In Hong Kong, the number of deception cases dropped 1.9 per cent to 8,216 in 2019 from 8,372 the previous year.
Police said the drop in cases was mainly because of a decrease in online deception, which saw an 18.8 per cent drop from 6,354 in 2018 to 5,157 in 2019.
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