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Four men and one woman, aged between 32 and 38, of a fraud syndicate were sentenced to imprisonments ranging from three years and nine months to five years and nine months for conspiracy to defraud at the District Court yesterday (December 2).
The court heard that Police Commercial Crime Bureau discovered an employment fraud syndicate in 2007 and put it under surveillance.
A 51-year-old woman applied for a shop clerk's job and started working in a company set-up by the syndicate in Mongkok in January 2007.
She later came across the defendants who claimed themselves as staff of the same company and was lured to purchase mobile phones at a shell company also set up by the syndicate in Hong Kong and resell it to a colluded telecom shop in Shenzhen at a profit.
The defendants further lured the victim to buy more mobile phones at a total cost of around $300,000. When the victim handed over the money to the defendants in February 2007, police action turned overt and arrested the defendants.
Each defendant was later charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud and one of the defendants aged 38 was additionally charged with one count of perverting the course of justice.
The sentences were handed down yesterday.
Police Report No. 26
Issued by PPRB
Ends/Friday, December 3, 2010
Issued at HKT 21:59
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