The Judiciary Police (PJ) arrested a local woman and her boyfriend for cheating her ex-husband by selling the former couple’s flat for HK$3 million, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lai Man Vai said during a regular press conference yesterday.
According to Lai, the suspect is a 33-year-old woman surnamed Chang. She told the police that she works as an insurance agent. No information on the suspect’s boyfriend, who was still at large at the time of the press conference yesterday, was released by the spokesman.
According to Lai, a member of the public tipped off the police last year that Chang had used her ex-husband’s personal information to commit fraud as he had disappeared five years ago.
After investigating, police officers discovered that Chang filed for divorce after her husband had vanished for several years. She and her boyfriend also forged a local ID card using her husband’s personal data in preparation of the fraud.
In July 2017, both suspects went to a local private notary where the boyfriend impersonated the ex-husband and signed a letter of authorisation to sell a flat originally owned by Chang and her husband.
According to Lai, the residential flat located in the central district was jointly owned by the married couple. It was sold for HK$3 million.Gambling debts trigger fraud
Chang admitted to the fraud. She told the police that she decided to go ahead with the fraud as she had a large amount of gambling debts, Lai said.
Chang also told the police that she had used all the HK$3 million to repay her debts and also to gamble, according to Lai.
Lai said that Chang has been transferred to the Public Prosecution Office (MP) for further investigation, adding that the accomplice was still at large at the time of the press conference.
Chang is facing charges of aggravated fraud and forgery of important documents, Lai said.
The whereabouts of Chang’s ex-husband are unknown.
