SINGAPORE - A young couple were arrested at Ion Orchard's Louis Vuitton (LV) outlet on Monday (Nov 21) afternoon after they tried to purchase items with counterfeit credit cards.

They were arrested with the assistance of an alert sales assistant at LV, the police said in a press release. An assortment of counterfeit credit cards and items worth more than $30,000 were recovered from them. The items are believed to have been purchased using the counterfeit credit cards.

The well-dressed young couple were understood to be tourists staying at a hotel along Orchard Road, Shin Min Daily News reported.

There were five police cars outside the shopping centre and 10 officers were in the store, an eyewitness named Mr Wang, 70, told Shin Min.

Another eyewitness, Ms Lee, 35, said the couple were dressed very stylishly. After they strode confidently into the store and picked out three items, they tried to pay with the counterfeit credit cards. The store was unable to process the cards despite repeated tries, raising the suspicion of the staff. The staff then decided to hold on to the cards.

Shin Min reported that the woman panicked when the credit cards could not be processed and the duo fled in different directions. The woman ran to a nearby female toilet while the man ran towards another side of Ion Orchard.

LV staff directed the police towards the duo who were eventually arrested.

After about two hours of investigations, the couple were taken into police custody.

They will be charged with cheating and may be fined and/or jailed up to 10 years.

The police reminds merchants and sales staff to exercise vigilance during the upcoming festive shopping season and always adopt correct card acceptance procedures when processing credit card transactions. They should look out for the various security features on the card face. If they are suspicious, they should contact their processing bank immediately for advice.