Store loses P1-M ring

An employee of a jewelry shop at a popular shopping mall in Mandaluyong City has sought police assistance after she fell victim to a woman con artist who made off with a diamond ring worth P1 million.

Accompanied by fellow workers, Sita Alac went to the office of the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Camp Crame on Friday to file a complaint against the still unidentified woman.

Alac, a sales clerk of Naomi Jewelry, said the woman who introduced herself only as “Joy” arrived at their store located on the second level of SM Megamall shortly before 2 p.m. on May 12 and asked to see the “Illusion” diamond set.

The jewelry set, which consisted of a diamond-studded ring and a pair of diamond earrings, was worth P2.8 million, she said.

“As she was looking at the jewelry, she asked me to get a gold wedding ring worth P50,000 which was placed inside our store’s glass display cabinet. She also inquired about a pearl necklace which she said she would use for her wedding,” Alac told the Inquirer.

“The woman again asked me to get another set of rose gold jewelry which she said she intended to buy for her mother. She said she was just waiting for her foreigner fiancé who would pay for the jewelry,” she said.

Alac added that the woman told her that she would buy the Illusion diamond set and handed her P3,000 as reservation fee.

While she was busy computing the price of the jewelry, Alac said the woman placed the two boxes containing the jewelry sets on top of each other. She then asked Alac to keep the items as she was going outside the store to look for her boyfriend.

Alac said the woman who was about 5’2” in height, of heavy build and wearing sunglasses then quickly left the store.

“As I was attending to a regular customer, I suddenly felt nervous and decided to check the box of the Illusion diamond set. I was shocked to see that the ring was already missing,” she told the Inquirer.

When she checked the footage taken by a closed circuit television camera inside the store, it showed the woman surreptitiously taking the diamond ring and hiding it in her right hand as she placed the two jewelry boxes on top of the other.

The CIDG has launched an operation to recover the stolen diamond ring and arrest the thief.