Case 10 – The Lost Mainlander

Now he’s pretending to be from China, no he’s really Singaporean (I’ve seen his passport)! Although he’s bankrupt and been in jail this year, he’s back out to con your money so he can live it up at luxurious five star hotels. His method is to appear well-dressed and living at these posh places (to match his story) to further con and cheat more money out of others.

Read of Jackie’s experience below:

I was on my way up to Seasons Fitness yesterday (17 Nov 09), when a relatively well-dressed PRC man stopped me at the lift, and asked whether I spoke Mandarin. With my limited understanding, he wanted to borrow $ off me so that he could stay 1 night at the Island Shang, having lost his friends and what-not. I asked him how much he needed, and told him flat out I was a brokeass and couldn’t possibly afford a night at the Shang at rack rate. He then asked to borrow 2k so he can at least find a less luxurious hotel. It was kind of cold last night, so I agreed…..

The whole time, he gave me his name card, got my number and called my cell straight away (Caller ID was “Call” indicating an overseas number) and kept asking me out to dinner the night after to return money. I told him he could return the money whenever once he gets himself sorted out, but to hell with dinner. Giving you money is one thing, but giving you MY TIME?… You’ve gotta be kidding.

I bank with HSBC, and only Citibank ATMs are available at the ICBC Tower. I was in a mad rush to hit the gym for 18:45 class, and wanted to get to a HSBC ATM quick to get everything over and done with. Up to this point, I still didn’t click, although what stroke me as odd, was how well he seemed to know his way around Central while claiming to be in HK for business only. He was able to point out the whereabouts of the ATMs for me, which was miles away.

I called my boyfriend to let him know I was running late for gym class, and told him what happened (against the wish of this borrower – he kept asking me not to tell my boyfriend to save him face… whatever..) just as I was getting cash out from the machine.

I was still on the phone while I was walking away from the ATM, and this PRC man immediately asked whether he could have the $ as he has to rush to TST to meet someone, somewhere or something.

All this time, my boyfriend was at the other end of the phone telling me a lot of people get conned around the area.

Well I figured… if this PRC guy had somewhere to go, or someone to meet at TST, it can’t be that bad, right? I’m sure he can get a roof over his head somehow, so I said, “Sorry mate, I have the cash with me, but I’ve decided I don’t want to lend it to you anymore…”

I’m VERY annoyed though. He wasted my precious workout time, damnit!!!

I googled “Con artist, Central, HK”, and see the EXACT SAME GUY. Eeww… *goose pimples everywhere*

His name card details:

China Beijing DongFang ShanShui Co Ltd
He Jian Guo, Vice Manager
Tel: (86)10 6504 5144
Cell: 13676011895

http://www.beijingdongfang.com.cn

Please don’t let me see him around my gym again. I go to the gym religiously, cos I have a lot of pent up energy. And when I get pissed off too often, I run out of places to hide the bodies before they can decompose…

New Alias – Nov 17 2009

According to a new comment made by a reader – Kevin Ong’s new alias and name card as of Nov 17 2009:

China Beijing DongFang ShanShui Co Ltd
He Jian Guo, Vice Manager
Tel: (86)10 6504 5144
Cell: 13676011895

http://www.beijingdongfang.com.cn’s

Case 9 – Plastic Surgeon

Hi, this cheater has changed his title to Dr Wong Sau Yan and claimed that he is the Chair of Surgery and Head Department. Also, he said he is the youngest brother of Wong Sau Yip, Director of Dai Sang Bank.
He said he came to Hong Kong on vacation and took a private jet to Hong Kong.
He said he was invited by HKU this time in HK.
He said last time he was suddenly called by emergency to fly all the way from New York to do a operation.
Eventually he found out the patient ’s name as Lai Ying.
He said all the artists in Emperor had done plastic surgery by him. He was offered this job by Mr Yeung Sau Sing.
Yeung Chiu Sing has end up give him a watch as a gift.
He said Mr Yeung Chiu Sing has given him 6 pieces of Birklin handbag.
He will suggest u a super advance injection to keep youth to be done on Queen Mary Hospital. He will offer u free operation fee but only charge u medicine fee of US$900.
He will tell u he lost his wallet while drinking with some famous person and end up too drunk to lost everything.
He will ask u to pay for his lunch, hotel or borrow money from u.

It seems:
Putting him in jail does not let him learn from that….any other suggestions???

(Dec. 30, 2008)

Case 8 – ICAC Story

Hi,

I am writing in to share my experience with all the girls out there. Please do not believe this f**king fraudster. I got to know Kevin two weeks ago. He told me that he was detained for four and a half months at a Remand Center due to some major financial case (amounting up to billions of dollars) involving ICAC. He said that he is on 10 million dollar bail at the moment and is awaiting he’s trial in December. When I knew him, he introduced himself as a barrister, son of the owner of Dah Sing Bank, Ex-Managing Director of Morgan Stanley and Owner of a Casino in Macau. He told me that currently he is staying at Peninsula and was really disturbed as the ICAC is harrasing him. I went out for drinks with him twice as I thought it is nice to meet a follow Singaporean in Hong Kong. The first time he paid for the drinks. The second time, which was just yesterday, he’s credit card got rejected and I offered to pay instead. On our way out, he told me that he is worried that he’s bank accounts are frozen by the ICAC again. So I suggested that he can try he’s card at a ATM to confirm. After some tries at the ATM and calls to he’s representing lawyer, he told me that he’s bank accounts are frozen and needs to wait till the next day before he can do something about it. After that he said that he wanted to stay in another hotel to avoid harassment by the ICAC, and was hinting whether I could pay for the hotel stay first as his bank accounts are frozen and he has no cash. I got weary of him and told him that he could look for he’s friends for help after all he has been here for a couple of years and I only knew him for less than a month. He got agitated and started to vent he’s frustration by kicking the ATM. I told him that there is nothing I can do to help and left. I am lucky that he only cheated a few hundred bucks from me. But I feel that he’s actions should not be condoned and he is a disgrace to Singaporeans. Four and a half months for him is too little, and apparently he has not learn he’s lesson!

(Nov 14 2008)

Long time no post!

Dear All,

Hi again, long long time no post!

Sorry that you have arrived at this blog since you wouldn’t be reading this unless you have been conned or you know of someone whom has been by Kevin Ong (his real name). I’m sure he’s under something else by now.

I have been busy moving on with my life this year and putting my past experiences with this fraudster behind me but I’m afraid after 9 years he is STILL AT LARGE in Hong Kong. Therefore I will try and update this as much as possible so that there is at least a record and others can be warned. He has ruined many lives and wiped out the savings of many innocent people and targets primarily WOMEN, though he will try anything he can to take your money. You will never see it again!

Although he has already been in jail this year, he was let out only after a couple of months, and according to my sources, has been back to his old evil ways ever since so WATCH OUT!

SCMP story on Kevin Wang

In case you missed it when it was published in the SCMP last week …

Banker, surgeon, lawyer … con man

Charismatic swindler fleeces his ‘friends’

Barclay Crawford

Nov, 22, 2009

If a person calling himself Kevin Ong Siu-sin wants to be your friend, you may want to think twice.

According to people who have encountered him – with personas as varied as a former Goldman Sachs banker “branching off on his own”, a top Hong Kong barrister named Alexander Wang complete with court gown and wig, and an eminent New York plastic surgeon called Damien Wong – Ong will go to great lengths to befriend strangers and convince them to hand over their cash.

They say he will shamelessly drop names, speak to the managers of top bars as if they are old friends, all the while ordering champagne and cigars. He once even conducted a sham examination on a friend to convince someone he was a doctor, one says. But he just won’t pay his bills.

Two websites have been set up to expose his methods and detail the money he has allegedly extracted from victims – primarily women – dating back to 2001. One person has now made a complaint to the police. Yet despite all that, and being officially bankrupt, it seems he is still continuing his ways in this free-wheeling city.

Anthony Lin made a report to police on September 30 about the experiences he and his friends had with Ong. They escaped relatively lightly, picking up the tab for two bottles of Grey Goose vodka at Lan Kwai Fong club Fever, and then a HK$3,400 bill from a long lunch for three at the exclusive Cococabana restaurant in Deep Water Bay.

Lin was introduced to “David Wang”, who said he was a high-flying banker who had just moved from Japan to Hong Kong, by friends who had met him while he smoked a cigar on the terrace outside hip Japanese bar and restaurant Zuma in Central one Friday night in September.

He was quick to give his work history; how he had left Goldman Sachs in Japan to become the Asian head of a firm called Phoenix Capital.

Lin said Ong told him how former US Treasury secretary Robert Rubin had “chewed him out” for his love of Ferraris while he was at Goldman Sachs. The bank is known for looking down on extravagant displays of wealth. He also told how New Jersey governor and former senior Goldman Sachs banker Jon Corzine had been his mentor in the 1980s.

Lin’s suspicions were raised when the so-called banker told the group how the People’s Bank of China had 150 million clients with a net worth of more than 50 million yuan (HK$56.75 million) – a figure even the most elementary student of economics would know was pure fantasy.

Yet despite his dubious banking knowledge, and the fact he had failed to pay his share of the bill, the trio invited him along to a dinner.

Some might ask: why? Lin said it was expected that Ong would pay because he would want them to put their money into some dubious investment. Another reason was his personality. “He talks like he’s an insider … he’s quite charismatic, he flatters you, drops names,” Lin said. “He told me about going to Gilbert Yeung’s [owner of Dragon-I nightclub] birthday party and being allowed into Dragon-I with shorts because they were good friends.

“One of the first things he did when we sat down for lunch … was say he had been mugged the night before. He used that excuse again when it came time to pay the bill.”

Later, a friend told Lin “David Wang the banker” sounded a lot like “Damien Wong the plastic surgeon” who had fleeced HK$42,000 from a friend. He then went to police.

That friend, an expatriate professional, was embarrassed that she had loaned money to a man she knew as US plastic surgeon Dr Damien Wong to pay for his room at The Peninsula hotel in February. She was told he had lost his credit cards.

In January, he introduced himself outside a bar in Lan Kwai Fong as a surgeon, which she thought was odd, but they chatted and she ended up giving him her number. From there, he pursued her over the phone until she agreed to meet up with him.

“I don’t know why, but I trusted him,” said the woman, who declined to be identified. “I felt sorry for him, and while it disgusts me to say this now, he was quite charming.”

Ong told her he had just moved to Hong Kong from New York and was working as a senior consultant for the “division of plastic and reconstruction surgery” at University of Hong Kong and Queen Mary Hospital.

Not only did he claim to be one of the world’s leading surgeons, but he also said he had patented an invention which had made him a multimillionaire. She ended up paying his HK$42,000 bill at The Peninsula so he could move to the Four Seasons.

A police spokesman confirmed a report had been made about Ong. The spokesman issued a general warning to people to not be greedy “and be aware if an investment project sounds too good to be true”.

“Be alert when someone tries to dissuade you from seeking advice from family or friends; if in doubt, contact the police immediately.”

Superintendent Mark Medwecki, of the crime prevention bureau, said: “Such behaviour may amount to criminal deception, but in practice this may be difficult to prove. People should take care when meeting strangers and take particular care if they are asked to pay any bills for such strangers.”

A person with a Singaporean accent answered a telephone call to Ong’s last known number. But he denied he was Kevin Ong Siu-sin, saying his name was Li.

Ong’s reputation now precedes him in Hong Kong. A Four Seasons spokeswoman said the company only ever accepted his business if he paid cash up front.

“We know his background,” Angela Wong, the hotel’s public relations manager, said. “He can only get a room if he pays cash up front. We don’t accept his credit cards.”

Rory Hussey, co-owner of popular nightspot Solas, said Ong was tolerated there until managers realised he was using the fact they knew him to give himself credence with women he would bring into the bar.

“The reason he’s been able to get away with this for so long is the same reason it’s so great to live in Hong Kong,” Hussey said. “People are just so honest and trusting here.”

Kevin’s Multiple Names or a.k.a.’s – Update Jan 2009

His real legal name is Ong Siu Sin Kevin. He is Singaporean.

He likes using variations of his surname Ong such as Wong or Wang.

Here’s an update on his newest known alias as of January 2009.

1) Kevin Wang

2) Alexander Wang

3) (Dr) Damien Wang or Damien Wong

4) (Dr) Wong Sau Yan

5) 王守信

Bankrupcy Order of Ong Siu Sin Kevin in Hong Kong

Kevin Ong is in bankruptcy proceedings! As per Sing Tao newspaper:

NOTICE OF BANKRUPTCY ORDER IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

In Bankruptcy Proceedings – No. 6344 of 2008

Re: ONG SIU SIN KEVIN <R279xxx>

NOTICE is hereby given that a Bankruptcy Order was made on 22nd December 2008. All debts due to the estate should be paid to the trustee.

Dated this 2nd day of January 2009

E T O’Connell – Official Receiver

http://notice.singtao.com/html/02012009/740715.PDF

New Update – Kevin in Court AGAIN on July 8, 2008

The fraudster is due in court for yet another case. This guy is not stopping unless he’s where he belongs – in jail!

No surprise here, he’s being charged with “making off without payment” which is another dishonesty related offence.  

For anyone who’s interested:

Time: 9:30am / Place: Court No.1 of Eastern Magistracy – Sai Wan Ho, Hong Kong

Kevin targets women through the internet

Kevin targets women through the Internet by adding them on MSN Messenger and finding them on sites such as Match.com, Friendster, Facebook etc.

Be aware – below are the email addresses he’ll usually use:

wang.s.x@hotmail.com

archangelpower@hotmail.com

archangelpower@gmail.com