Whenever there are tourists with money, there will be scammers lurking around — that’s the sad reality of life.
A group of Filipino insurance employees who were touring Beijing, China was duped into buying fake jade jewelry and gemstones worth around PHP1M (USD19,966), GMA News reports.
The group was lured into purchasing the precious pieces because of the huge discount offered by the Chinese-Filipino owner.
Everything sounded too good to be true.
A jewelry set supposedly valued at PHP1.3 million (USD25,955) was reportedly sold for only PHP300,000 (USD5989). While a crystal necklace supposedly worth PHP400,000 (USD7986) was sold for only PHP70,000 (PHP1397).
To make the deal even sweeter for his victims, the swindler even threw in free gemstones supposedly worth PHP100,000 (PHP1996) each.
Each piece came with a purported certificate of authenticity.
“The company is huge. There’s even an escalator. You wouldn’t think they were duping people,” said a female victim.
The group discovered that they were duped after having the gemstones appraised in the Philippines.
“That was our hard-earned money, so it’s hard to accept,” said a male victim.
The Department of Foreign Affairs vowed to help the victims of the incident.
