HKSAR v. WONG SZE YAN

DCCC 1142/2012

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO 1142 OF 2012

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Reasons for Sentence

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1. The defendant has pleaded guilty to two offences relating to the use of a forged American Express card and a 3rd charge of possession of a forged Diners Club card.

2. The facts admitted by the defendant that on 3 pm on 16 October 2012, the defendant went into the I.T. Store on Canton Road in Tsim Sha Tsui and purchased clothing including a dress and a pair of shoes to a total value of $24,030.  She used the forged American Express card to pay for the goods and left the shop.  She later went to the Louis Vuitton shop in the Peninsula Hotel where she attempted to purchase three bags valued at $47,250. Again she presented the forged American Express card by way of payment. However, the sales assistant noticed that the words in the bar code of the signature and the logo at the back of the card were tilted and blurred and she became suspicious.  Enquiries were made with the Card Centre and a report was made to the police.  The police arrived at the shop later that afternoon and recovered from the defendant the forged American Express card and she was also found in possession of the forged Diners Club International card, the subject of charge 3.  

3. The defendant was very cooperative with the police and she admitted that she had committed the offences because she owed money to other people. The defendant was escorted to the police station and later agreed to participate in a video‑recorded interview.  She told the police that the day before she committed these offences she saw a job advertisement in a newspaper.  She made a call to an unknown man who told her that the job was shopping for goods for which she would earn $1,000 for every $10,000 worth of goods which she purchased.  She met the man the following day and he gave her the two forged credit cards which were in her name and he told her to go to the I.T. shop and then to the LV shop for shopping.  Not only that, he told her that when she went to the I.T. shop she was to purchase a dress and shoes and change into them before going to the Louis Vuitton shop in the Peninsula Hotel.  This is what she did, she went to the female toilet on the 1st floor of Harbour City on Canton Road, she changed into the dress and shoes and she left the other purchases at the toilet as instructed and having changed her clothes she then went to the Louis Vuitton shop where she attempted to purchase goods there.

4. The defendant has one minor offence recorded on her record, it was a gambling matter in 2011 for which she was given a small fine but I propose to treat her as essentially a person of clear record.  She is aged 33, was born in Hong Kong.  She is a divorcee.  She has a daughter who is aged 11 and she herself was educated to Form 5 standard.  I am told that she committed the offence because of financial problems, she owed other people $80,000 and she has offered to reimburse the victim of this offence, the American Express Company, from her bail money and to pay the balance subsequently.  I have been supplied with a letter from the defendant’s employer which describes the defendant as being a hardworking person and notwithstanding this conviction, her employer is prepared to re-employ her once she is released from prison.

5. The offences which the defendant has committed are clearly serious offences involving the use of forged credit cards. Offences of this kind are very common in Hong Kong.  At the first shop, the defendant purchased goods worth over $24,000 and at the second shop she attempted to buy goods worth in excess of $47,000.  As the Court of Appeal have said on numerous occasions, what is the significant aggravating feature of these offences is not the actual loss but the potential loss.  The court has said that for offences of this kind substantial, custodial, deterrent sentences must be imposed.  However, as offences of this kind go, this is very much at the lower end of the scale.  There were no international dimensions and there was no elaborate planning.  She was not acting as part of a large syndicate.

6. I have decided that the appropriate starting point for the three offences, is a sentence of 3 years’ imprisonment and I propose to impose concurrent sentences for the offences.  That will be reduced to 2 years to reflect the defendant’s guilty plea and her cooperation with police.  The defendant will go to prison for 2 years, the sentences to run concurrently in respect of each of the offences.