Fake jade store busted in Beijing

14 people were arrested on fraud charges by the local procuratorate in Chaoyang district in Beijing, Beijing Morning Post reported on Thursday.

Local police have caught a criminal gang selling jade, who had been working with tour guides to swindle tourists, an operation that had already generated around 4 million yuan ($651,500). The tour guides would lie to the visitors telling them their coaches had to pass security checks and also needed to be disinfected, and it was during this time the unsuspecting tourists would be guided to to Xi Longxiang, a jade store located in Beijing's Chaoyang district.

The assistants at the jade shop would impress the visitors with their knowledge of jade in the shop's lounge and then someone pretending to be the boss of the store would serve the tourists in person. The so-called boss concocted a story about praying for his grandfather, who he said was seriously ill on his 81st birthday. He would then tell the tourists that a temple master said to collect donations from generous people so the temple priests could carry out practices such as lighting candles and praying for his sick grandfather.

The criminal gang would defraud visitors anywhere from 100,000 yuan ($16,290) to 20,000 yuan ($32,575) on any given day, while giving them fake jade, worth around 10 yuan ($1.63), as a present for their contributions. The case is under investigation.