A student studying in Singapore was allegedly persuaded by callers posing as mainland law-enforcement officers to travel to Hong Kong and buy watches worth more than HK$1.3 million as a supposed guarantee of innocence, police said. The callers accused overseas students of money laundering or other offences.
The student arrived in early October, met a man and went to different watch shops, where multiple watches were bought and handed over as the purported guarantee.
Police said members of the alleged group had separate roles: arranging meetings with the student, driving the student to shops, contacting shop employees and selling the watches. The watches were resold for cash at about 10 per cent below their original price, according to police.
After the student reported the case online, contact with the alleged scammers continued. Police arrested a man when he met the student again on 12 October, then arrested three other alleged core members and a watch-shop employee. All five were charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud and were due at Kowloon City Magistrates' Courts on 15 October.
Police urged merchants not to accept goods of unclear origin. They said local and mainland law-enforcement officers would not ask people to buy goods or transfer money, and gave 18222 as a 24-hour anti-scam hotline.