A local man was arrested on Wednesday for cheating three friends out of HK$3.74 million claiming that he could help them buy brand-named watches and set up a mortgage loan company, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lai Man Vai said at a regular press conference on Friday.
The 31-year-old suspect surnamed Tam told the police that he is a businessman.
According to Lai, two women and a man reported to the police on May 11 that they had been defrauded by Tam in 2018. The three local victims are friends of the suspect.
2 female victims cheated in watch deals
Lai said two female victims told the police that in April and May 2018 Tam told them that he could assist them in buying rare brand-named watches, promising that the timepieces would be received within a month.
Tam persuaded the first victim to pay a HK$300,000 deposit to buy one watch, while he convinced the second victim to pay HK$960,000 to buy a watch which was immediately available. The two victims then deposited HK$300,000 and HK$960,000 respectively, totalling HK$1.26 million, into Tam’s casino VIP room account.
According to Lai, Tam also told the first victim that one of his customers wanted to buy two brand-named watches from her. After she gave him the two watches Tam told her that his client did not like them. However, he only returned one of the watches to her, claiming that he had lost the other one. He also promised that he would pay her back HK$230,000 as soon as possible. However, Tam never returned the money.
Lai said the second victim who paid HK$960,000 did receive the watch that she wanted to buy from him but she did not like the design and returned it to Tam. She asked him to find her another watch instead. However, Tam did not find another watch for her, while handing the watch that she had rejected to a pawnshop in the hope that someone would buy it. However, no one bought it. He also convinced the victim to pay HK$300,000 to buy another watch. However, she never got the watch that she wanted to buy from the suspect.
The two victims reported a loss of HK$530,000 and HK$1.26 million respectively totalling HK$1.79 million, Lai said.
Suspect promises male victim monthly ‘dividend’ of 2.5 pct
Meanwhile, according to Lai, Tam told the male victim in July 2018 that he could earn a monthly “dividend” of 2.5 percent running a mortgage loan business and asked him to join him. The victim gave Tam HK$1.95 million to set up the company. However, the victim never received any “dividends”, and he could not even get back the principal.
PJ officers identified Tam as the suspect and discovered that he was involved in other fraud cases in the past, and he had to report to the police on a regular basis. PJ officers arrested Tam at a police station on Wednesday. Tam refused to cooperate with the police, according to Lai.
The three victims incurred a total loss of HK$3.74 million, according to Lai.
Tam has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing a fraud charge, according to Lai.
