SINGAPORE: A man who allegedly swapped a Tiffany diamond ring worth S$318,000 (US$238,000) with a replica at The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands was charged with cheating on Wednesday (Nov 22).
Wu Youquan, a 43-year-old Chinese national, was handed one charge of cheating by deceiving a shop employee on Nov 20 into believing that he was interested in buying the diamond ring.
The address stated in the charge sheet corresponds with the Tiffany & Co store in Basement 1 of The Shoppes.
He held the ring in his hand and diverted the employee’s attention to other rings, according to the police in an earlier media release.
When she looked away, Wu swapped the genuine ring with a replica.
However, the employee realised that the price tag on the replica had a different texture and alerted in-house security.
Wu was detained and the genuine ring was found on him. He was arrested at the scene.
Wu was remanded for investigations and will return to court next week. If convicted of cheating, he could be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.