The Hong Kong Police and Shenzhen Public Security Bureau have jointly shut down a deception ring and arrested three Mainland men.

Since December, 2007, Hong Kong Police had received 110 reports of people who had been deceived after they responded to ads in Hong Kong newspapers that offered payments of $480 to $550 for Hong Kong people to bring goods back from Shenzhen.

Worthless: Would-be couriers discovered there was no one to take delivery of the "high value" goods such as this motherboard and packs of crisps.

The would-be couriers were sent to pick up goods - claimed to be of high value - in Dongmen and Futian, where they were asked to pay a deposit ranging from $600 to $6,000 before the delivery.

When they arrived at their destination, no one was there to accept the goods - which were cheap products.

The victims included seniors, housewives and jobless people, aged 18 to 68. In total, they lost about $324,000 in the scam.

The Police Commercial Crime Bureau, the Kowloon West Regional Crime Unit, and the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau set up a task group in March to investigate and identify the culprits behind it.

The Shenzhen Public Security Bureau arrested three men, aged 22 to 31, in Shenzhen, effectively shutting down the syndicate that is believed to have been connected with more than 70 of the job-scam cases.

Police remind people to be wary of these kinds of crimes. Anyone taking up a delivery job should know the value of the goods and verify the employer's identity and the destination when asked to pay deposits before delivery. Anyone who has been scammed should make a report to the Police.