Suspects held over alleged tourist fraud
Police catch the suspects from several cities in China in a recent action.
A total of 61 people have been arrested for allegedly defrauding tourists, Shanghai police said on Tuesday.
The suspects are said to have operated in two gangs, taking tourists to jewelry shops where they paid high prices for cheap jewelry.
Police in the Pudong New Area began an investigation in early September.
The suspects are said to have advertised day tours online and at tourist spots such as Yuyuan Garden, People’s Square, Nanjing Road E. and Nanjing Road W., at 100 (US$15) to 150 yuan per person, significantly lower than the market price.
During the tours, which were led by unlicensed guides, police said the tourists would be taken to a jewelry shop run by the suspects where they were introduced to someone claiming to be the boss of the shop.
The “boss” persuaded them to pay tens of thousands of yuan for jewelry that was often worth a few dozen yuan, according to the police.
There were three such shops involved in the alleged fraud, two in Pudong and one in Putuo District, and they had been operating at least from 2018, police said.
Between September 10 and October 8, over 2,000 tourists had lost over 10 million yuan, police said.
The suspects were caught in several cities in China in a recent police action.
Officers with some of the jewelry seized during their investigation.
