Con man hoodwinks hotel staff in HK
Source: AFP |
July 10, 2013, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A CON man tricked a five-star hotel staff into opening a room safe in Hong Kong by posing as a guest, raising questions about security at one of the city's top hotels.
Staff at the harborside Peninsula Hotel were first duped into giving the man a spare key in the early hours of Sunday morning as the room's occupants, a French couple, were sleeping, the South China Morning Post reported yesterday.
When the couple left the room in the afternoon, the man got into the room and managed to persuade staff to open the safe from which he stole HK$50,000 (US$6,400) worth of goods and cash.
"Speaking in English, he told hotel staff that he had lost his room key and demanded another one," the newspaper cited a Hong Kong police officer as saying, adding that the man provided details of the 47-year-old male occupant including name and date of birth.
After entering the room, the man "telephoned the front desk from the room saying he had forgotten the password of the safe and asked for assistance to open it," the officer was quoted by the newspaper as saying.
When the staff arrived, the man, described as a foreigner, was waiting in the room wearing "a pair of slippers, a blue T-shirt and jeans."
"No one has been arrested so far," a Hong Kong police spokeswoman said yesterday. A police statement said that a computer, a wallet and a luggage had also been stolen.
The Peninsula Hotel, established in 1928 in Hong Kong, is situated in the bustling shopping district of Tsim Sha Tsui and is one of the city's oldest hotels. The hotel refused to give details on the case, but confirmed the theft had occurred.
Staff at the harborside Peninsula Hotel were first duped into giving the man a spare key in the early hours of Sunday morning as the room's occupants, a French couple, were sleeping, the South China Morning Post reported yesterday.
When the couple left the room in the afternoon, the man got into the room and managed to persuade staff to open the safe from which he stole HK$50,000 (US$6,400) worth of goods and cash.
"Speaking in English, he told hotel staff that he had lost his room key and demanded another one," the newspaper cited a Hong Kong police officer as saying, adding that the man provided details of the 47-year-old male occupant including name and date of birth.
After entering the room, the man "telephoned the front desk from the room saying he had forgotten the password of the safe and asked for assistance to open it," the officer was quoted by the newspaper as saying.
When the staff arrived, the man, described as a foreigner, was waiting in the room wearing "a pair of slippers, a blue T-shirt and jeans."
"No one has been arrested so far," a Hong Kong police spokeswoman said yesterday. A police statement said that a computer, a wallet and a luggage had also been stolen.
The Peninsula Hotel, established in 1928 in Hong Kong, is situated in the bustling shopping district of Tsim Sha Tsui and is one of the city's oldest hotels. The hotel refused to give details on the case, but confirmed the theft had occurred.
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