Woman suspected of iPhone 6 scam worth HK$13m held by Hong Kong police
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 30 December, 2014, 4:29pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 30 December, 2014, 6:16pm
Clifford Lo [email protected]
The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus models were released in September. Photo: Reuters
A company secretary suspected of deceiving eight victims of more than HK$13 million in an iPhone investment scam was being questioned in police custody today.
Officers are searching for the husband of the 43-year-old woman in connection with the case, which came to light last month after the alleged victims lost contact with her.
The woman’s friends and her employer are among seven of the alleged victims, who also include her employer’s business partner and his friends. They were tricked into paying her HK$16 million to buy iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus models, according to one police source.
“Her boss is the director of a Kwai Chung trading company. He was cheated out of nearly HK$3 million,” the source said.
The source said the woman joined the company as a secretary about seven or eight months ago.
The eighth alleged victim was a Mong Kok mobile phone trader.
“In October, the woman allegedly used company cheques to buy a HK$2.9 million consignment of iPhones from his shop, but the cheques bounced,” the source said.
It is alleged the woman claimed her relative worked at an Apple store and had offered her a discount on the latest iPhones, according to the source.
“The victims were told that they could buy the phones at a discount price through her and they could receive huge returns reselling them.”
In the beginning, the alleged victims invested HK$5.27 million to buy 940 iPhones and received the goods from the woman. Police believe it was an apparent move to make them believe her intentions and the transaction were genuine.
She disappeared last month after the victims invested more money, according to police.
Officers believe some of the 940 iPhones were obtained fraudulently from the Mong Kok shop.
Police began investigating the case after receiving complaints from the alleged victims last month.
On Monday, the woman was picked up in Station Lane, Hung Hom at about 3pm after one of the alleged victims ran into her and called police.
“We are checking her bank accounts in an effort to retrieve the money,” the source said. “We will apply for a court order to restrain her assets if necessary.”
Detectives from Kwai Tsing district crime squad are investigating.
The woman was being held for questioning this afternoon and had not been charged.
Police figures show there were 7,223 reports of deception in the first 10 months of this year, an 18.5 per cent increase from 6,096 in the same period last year.
