A fake watch shop in Tsim Sha Tsui stole two watches worth a total of $4.6 million using “training tickets.” Two men were arrested.

A massive watch scam occurred in Tsim Sha Tsui on Monday (the 4th). The scammers meticulously set up a suspected fake “watch repair service center” in Peninsula Centre. Using a safe with two doors, front and back, and dozens of bundles of “training coupons” containing only genuine banknotes, they successfully defrauded two mainland sellers of two luxury watches, one by Patek Philippe and one by Richard Mille, worth a total of nearly HK$4.6 million.

Five days later, police announced today (the 9th) that they had arrested two local men, aged 34 and 43, on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud. They were the mastermind and the driver of the scam. Sources indicate that the arrested driver was a ride-hailing platform driver, and police are investigating his involvement in the scheme. Furthermore, an accomplice who received the stolen goods successfully sold the Patek Philippe watch in Hong Kong for HK$1.73 million before fleeing to Macau. Police recovered the watch and are currently tracking down the remaining suspects and the whereabouts of the stolen watch.

At approximately 6:55 p.m. on Monday, police received a call from one of the victims, who reported selling two watches to a man in his 30s at a shop in The Peninsula Centre, Tsim Sha Tsui, who then defrauded them of the watches and fled. After investigating, officers classified the case as “obtaining property by deception” and assigned it to the Yau Tsim District Criminal Investigation Team 4 for follow-up.

The shop in question is located at Shop 180, 1/F, The Peninsula Centre, Tsim Sha Tsui, and is called “Summer Watch Repair Service.” Searches for the shop number or name on Google, Baidu, and Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book) failed to find any similar listings. The shop, as seen at the scene, appears to have been divided into two rooms with front and rear glass doors. A sign was posted on the front door, and the interior was bright and newly decorated, with a counter and sofa. Behind the counter was a safe and an entrance to another room covered by a black curtain. The other room was unadorned and unmarked, and exits were through a rear door. It’s understood that the safe contained a hidden secret, with doors on both the front and back, a feature that played a crucial role in the scam.

One of the victims, a 29-year-old Zhang, lost a gold Patek Philippe watch worth approximately HK$2,040,000; the other, a 32-year-old Zeng, lost a blue Richard Mille watch worth approximately HK$2,550,000. The combined value of the two watches is nearly HK$4.6 million. Police officers reportedly found approximately 5,000 “HK$1,000” exercise coupons on a counter inside the shop.

One victim was pursuing a master’s degree in Hong Kong; the other was selling watches on behalf of their boss.

Sources at the scene indicated that the two watches involved were a Patek Philippe worth HK$2.04 million and a Richard Mille worth HK$2.55 million. One of the victims interviewed stated that he and another victim were both watch dealers. He was studying for a master’s degree in Hong Kong and had first come to the shop in question to sell watches after being introduced by a friend. The other victim came to Hong Kong from Hunan, and his boss was the friend who introduced them to the shop.

The victims said that after the shop “staff” inspected the watches, they took the cash from the safe and handed it to them. They then put the two watches back into the safe and put the cash into the bill counter. During this time, the “staff” claimed the bill counter was malfunctioning and asked the two victims to wait for a few minutes while he “borrowed a bill counter.” Unexpectedly, he then disappeared.

After waiting for a long time without the “staff” returning, the victims lifted the curtain inside the shop and discovered that the safe was actually “empty at the back, but it could be opened at both the front and back.” Of the large stack of cash the “staff” handed over, only the first bill was genuine; the rest were “exercise vouchers.” Confronted with the scam, the victims reported the scam to the police.