Two women from the mainland have been arrested for presenting rings containing artificial diamonds as natural ones to deceive three local pawn shops, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Leng Kam Lon said during a special press conference yesterday.
The suspects in their forties, surnamed Liu and Su, told the police they’re jobless.
According to Leng, Liu and Su attempted to hock a purported natural diamond ring for 40,000 patacas in a pawn shop in Nam Van. After inspecting, the staff discovered that the diamonds were artificial, also recognising the duo later as they had swindled the shop out of HK$50,000 with a similar tactic back in August. The staff reported the case to the police, leading to the arrest of the duo at the scene.
Leng noted that the suspects were also involved in similar scams at two other local pawn shops last month, which reported losses of HK$30,000 and HK$20,000 respectively.
Under questioning, the duo admitted to the deception and told the police that they purchased the rings for 5,000 yuan each online.
Su and Liu were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing fraud charges. Su also faces a charge of using another person’s identity document as she attempted to pawn the ring with Liu’s ID card.
Evidence seized from the suspects such as rings and Hong Kong dollar notes are displayed during yesterday’s press conference at the pressroom of the Judiciary Police (PJ) headquarters. – Photo: William Chan
