CRIME | Woman falls victim to elaborate chip theft scam

The Judiciary Police have arrested two mainland men after they allegedly stole a HKD500,000 chip from another mainland woman early on Sunday morning inside a Cotai casino.
The suspects, aged 27 and 30, are both from Hebei province. They targeted the victim, a 38-year-old housewife also from the mainland, in a casino resort on the Cotai Strip. One of the suspects, surnamed Wang, deliberately asked the other suspect, surnamed Sun, to retrieve HKD10,000 from their hotel room for him, in front of the victim who was at a gaming table at the time, according to the authorities.
He then asked the victim for the same amount of money in order to gamble and promised to return it as soon as his friend returned. However, the man had still not returned after Wang gambled away the entire loan. The victim then followed Wang to his room in the hope of retrieving the lost money, but was greeted with Sun fleeing past her after the door opened.
The pair then decided to make a loan deal. However, Wang pushed the victim to the floor while she was signing the deal. The chip then fell out of her pocket and was immediately snatched up by the suspect before he escaped the room.
The woman then sought assistance from the hotel security staff, who contacted police. The investigators were able to catch Sun who allegedly hid somewhere within the resort, and later intercepted Wang at the border gate checkpoint.