MIDTOWN — A gem dealer shipped a pair of diamonds worth more than $43,000 to a longtime customer in Georgia — only to discover later the person had never ordered or received the pricey stones, the NYPD said.
The Julius Klein Group, a “preeminent diamantaire in the global diamond industry,” received a phone call at its 580 Fifth Ave. location around 12 p.m. on Nov. 14 from a person claiming to be a “steady customer,” requesting the company ship a $21,879, 2.04-carat diamond to his salesperson in Atlanta, police said.
The company got a call from the same person a day later asking that a second, 2.01-carat diamond valued at $21,700 be shipped to the same location, the NYPD said.
When a Julius Klein Group employee called the customer on Nov. 17 to confirm that he’d received the diamonds, the customer said he’d neither requested nor received the two jewels, which were worth $43,579 in total, police said.
The customer told the employee that his company's computers had been hacked, the NYPD said.
Police hadn’t arrested anyone in connection with the thefts as of Monday.
A representative for the Julius Klein Group did not respond to a request for comment.
