Pretending to be maintenance staff, thieves steal HK$26,000 from hotel guests in Tsim Sha Tsui

Three men pretending to be staff inspecting air conditioners stole HK$26,000 (US$3,300) from guests in a Tsim Sha Tsui hotel on Tuesday night, sparking a police search.

The thieves duped three women from the mainland staying in three rooms at The Kimberley Hotel on Kimberley Road, which is in the heart of a shopping and leisure district popular with tourists.

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“Initial investigation showed the three men pretended to be hotel staff to inspect air conditioners in order to gain entry into their targets’ rooms,” a police spokesman said. “After they left, the victims discovered money was stolen.”

The women, aged between 20 to 27, then sought help from a hotel staff member who made a 999 emergency call at about 10.15pm on Tuesday.

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Officers scouted the area, but no arrests were made.

Police said the men were about 1.7 metres tall, of thin build and thought to be between the ages of 30 and 35.

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Police are treating the case as theft. Officers from the Yau Tsim police district are handling the case.

According to official statistics, police handled 23,806 reports of theft across the city last year, down 7.1 per cent compared with the figures in 2016.