Bags retailed from HK$60,000 to HK$2 million
The Judiciary Police (PJ) announced yesterday that a female shop manager employed at a luxury handbag boutique in the central district has been arrested for allegedly using her position to steal from the company.
The police said that over the past six months, she reportedly stole 35 luxury handbags from the shop. Furthermore, she fraudulently used the company’s name to scam three industry peers outside Macau out of deposits for pre-ordered bags. The total amount involved in both cases reached HK$21.82 million.
PJ spokesman Cheong Siu Keong announced the case’s details during a special press conference yesterday.
The suspect is a 27-year-old local woman surnamed Choi.
Starting from November last year, Choi used her position to steal luxury handbags from the boutique on at least 20 occasions, accumulating a total of 35 stolen bags with a total value of HK$16.67 million.
Choi sold the stolen goods to local industry peers and those outside Macau at a 10 percent discount, making an illicit profit of HK$15 million.
Each of the stolen bags is worth between HK$60,000 to HK$2 million. The police managed to recover two of the stolen bags, worth HK$400,000 in total, from a luxury second-hand consignment shop in Taipa.
Early this month, Choi further exploited her position by falsely telling three industry peers outside Macau that she could pre-order highly sought-after designer handbags on behalf of the shop for them. She issued forged receipts stamped with the shop’s official chop, enticing the victims to transfer deposits in instalments totalling HK$5.15 million.
Upon verification, the shop confirmed there were no records of such orders, and none of the funds had ever entered the company’s accounts, meaning that the entire sum had been pocketed by Choi.
The three shops outside Macau, in Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland, fell into the trap because they trusted Choi’s position as the shop manager and believed the shop receipts were authentic.
According to Cheong, the scheme came to light on Wednesday when the shop owner noticed anomalies in the inventory and financial accounts. Following an internal investigation that exposed the wrongdoing, the owner took Choi to the PJ headquarters to report the crime later that day.
Under questioning, Choi told the police that most of the illicit gains had been invested in cryptocurrency, all of which was ultimately lost in trading.
Choi has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing theft and fraud charges.
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the hooded embezzlement suspect to a PJ car outside the PJ headquarters in Zape yesterday. – Photo: Tony Wong
The two stolen bags recovered by the police are displayed at the pressroom of the PJ headquarters yesterday. – Photo: PJ
