A couple received $32 million from about 200 people who had ordered luxury goods from them and allegedly disappeared with the victims’ money.
One of the customers, Mr Huang, told Shin Min Daily News that he had given the couple $700,000 to buy 6 Rolex and Patek Philippe watches, but he allegedly didn’t receive his goods.
Huang said that he had trusted them because he placed a $26,000 order from them the year before ad received the watch after a month, and the watch he got was authentic.
He added that the price that the couple was offering was 10% lower than the market rate, so he felt that it was worth it.
For his latest order, he said that he waited for months but his watches never came, and he then asked the couple for an explanation on their Instagram page.
Huang was later added to a Telegram group where he discovered that all the members in the group were in the same boat as him – they also didn’t receive their goods.
A police report was also reportedly lodged against the couple on 1 July.
The couple allegedly told another customer, Ms Zhang, that they get their products from Switzerland because it is cheaper there.
Zhang was told by the couple that her order would arrive in 2 weeks but alas, her order never came, and she lodged a police report on 2 July.
Zhang added that two other customers were also in the same situation as her, with one of them transferring more than $40,000 to the couple to buy branded bags in the hopes of reselling it for profit and paying off her tuition loan – she ended up not receiving her goods too.
There were about 200 people inside the Telegram group, and the customers estimate that the total amount of value of the goods that they were owed, is about $32 million.