An airport ground worker has been jailed for nearly three years for stealing more than HK$3 million from a primary school friend who paid her to buy surgical masks at the start of the coronavirus epidemic in Hong Kong last year.
Lam then contacted some potential buyers, including a friend and the Federation of Trade Unions, and placed five orders for 72,304 boxes of masks, from February 17 to 28, with deposits paid in cash. Feeling suspicious, Lam reported the case to police and called Sit again, whereupon the defendant admitted it had been a scam but that she would not return the money.
Police subsequently seized HK$15,670 from her wallet and another HK$120,000 from her boyfriend’s home, which Sit confirmed were the remaining sums from the amount she stole.