Singapore tourist spends over S$7,000 on ‘jade’ in Guizhou, later finds Buddha pendant worth less than S$100
SINGAPORE: A supposed souvenir from a trip turned out to be a scam after a Singaporean tourist spent over S$7,000 on 16 jade products, only to discover that one of the Buddha pendants was actually serpentine stone worth less than S$100.
Case details revealed that a 37-year-old woman reported to Shin Min Daily News that her parents joined a six-day, five-night tour group to Guizhou on SepT 8. This trip consisted of approximately 20 people, and the majority were elderly. On the last day of their trip, the tour guide took the tourists to a place that sells jade products.
Initially, her mother wanted to buy only a jade ornament for herself, but the shop assistant insisted on showing her more products, leading to her buying 16 pieces of jewellery, including zodiac ornaments, beaded bracelets, Pixiu (a mythical creature), dragon and phoenix pendants, and a Buddha pendant. Some of these came with certificates of authenticity.
When her parents returned from the trip, she noticed that the Buddha pendant seemed off, and, having basic knowledge of what real jade looks like, the woman went to appraise the jewellery.
Unfortunately, after testing, the Buddha pendant was found to be made of serpentine, not the "black jade" as stated in the original appraisal report. She then realised that the serpentine Buddha pendant was worth less than $100.
With this, the woman sought help from the Singapore Tourism Board and asked if she could request a refund. She was then informed that the process could take 12 to 16 weeks and she is still waiting for a further response.
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The tour guide said that the company was aware of the incident and would communicate and verify it with the local authorities in China.
In a separate case, a 30-year-old secretary stole S$63,000 from her company’s bank account over two months.
The secretary was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment in relation to this crime.
Read more about the news story here.