Globetrotting jewelry thief caught after swiping nearly $300K from NYC Cartier, Tiffany shops

A globetrotting jewelry thief suspected of ripping off swanky store𝕴s in Beverly Hills, Miami and South Korea is now behind bars following heists at Cartier and Tiffany in New York City, The Post has learned.

Yaorong Wan, 49, was busted in Manhattan last week after he allegedly jacked diamond rings — which had a combined va𝐆lue of nearly $300,000 — from the world-renowned jewelry stores, prosecutors said.

His sticky-fingered crime spree included the theft of an $18,000 watch from a London Jewelers in Manhasset on Long Islaꦕnd last month, according to ꧑the criminal complaints.

4

Authorities are also eyeing Wan — who has a red notice out on him from Interpol — for similar heists at a Tiffany’s in South Korea, an Hermes store in New Jersey and Cartier stores in Beverly Hills, Calif. and Miami, Fla., law-enforcement sources and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said.

The NYPD’s Major Case Squad tracked Wan to a Queens apartment building on 40th Road on Friday, where they arrested him and slapped him with two counts of grand larceny for the Manhattan thefts, police sources said.

The arrest appears to have ended Wan’s years-long criminal caper, which took him halfway around the world and left his pockets heavy with stolen rings and watches, police sources said.

His wild jaunt appears to have started in September 2018, when he hit a Tiffany’s in the South Korean capital of Seoul and made off with a $330,000 diamond ring, sources said.

He took a few 𓆏year🌳s off, then came to the US last December and quickly began fleecing stores throughout the country, according to the sources.

In January, he allegedly strolled into a Cartier store in ꦓBeverly Hills and left with a $48,000 diamond ring and a watch worth $10,000 that he conveniently forgot to pay f꧑or, sources said.

4

Then he came to the Big Apple, where he allegedly hit the Tiffany & Co on Fifth Avenue in Rockefeller Center on March 4 a𒀰nd the Cartier store at 20 Hudson Yards on March 12, according to the complaints.

At Tiffany’s, Wanꦜ waltzed in at about 3 p.m. that day and asked 𒐪the woman behind the counter about several pieces of jewelry, the court documents allege.

He eventually settled�🥃� on a diamond ring, which was valued at a whopping $255,000.

Wan allegedly held the ring, looked 𒅌it over, handed it back and left the store, the complaint said.

But the ring he returned wasn’t the same one the employee handed him — even though she thought it was.

4

About a week later, the store was doing a routine inventory when workers found out the allegedly genuine ri✱ng was, in fact, a counterfeit cubic zirc𒀰onia stone mounted on 18-carat white gold, the complaint said.

That was a far cry from the pricey original, which wa🌳s a natural diamond mounted on platinu🎃m that was engraved, hallmarked and had a unique code attached to it, according to the complaint.

When investigators watched surveillance footage from that day, they saജw the defendant examine the ring ꧅— then allegedly slip it into his palm in a bit of sleight-of-hand trickery and offload the cheaper fake.

Store workers had photographed the ring on Mar♍ch 5, and none of the engravings or hallmarkings were present, the complaint said.  

On March 12, he allegedly engꦬineered a similar magic trick on an employee of the Cartier store in Hudson Yards.

That day, Wan walked in at about 1:30 p.m. ✨and asked to look at two engagement rings and two watche🏅s, investigators said.

4

The employee handed him the diamond rings, then got distওracted, according t🎃o the complaint.

That’s when Wan allegedly handed back one of the rings, but slipped the other — valued at about $25,000 — into his pocket before taking off.

The caught-on-camer♐a heis﷽t was his second big score in just eight days.

Sources said he then went to Miami, where he allegedly lifted a $16,🧔000 watch from a 🐻Cartier store on March 24.

Then he came back to the metropolitan area, where he pilfered the glitzy watch from Manhasset on April 19 and two watc♏hes ꦏ— worth a combined $17,000 — from the Hermes store inside the American Dream Mall in East Rutherford on April 26, sources said.

In the Long Isl💝and case, investigators say Wan was perusing watches at the London Jewelers on Northern Boulevard when he slid a Chopard watch into his left jacket pocket, the complaint said.

Then he strolled past the registers and out the door, according to the complaintꦺ.

When he was arrested, Wan allegedly had three watches that he stole from Manhasset and New Jersey, as well as the fake stones he used to swap with the legitiಌmate pieces, sources said.

He pleaded not guil🐓ty at his Saturday arraignment in Manhattan✅ Criminal Court, and a judge cut him loose on supervised release, according to the complaint and police sources.

But afterward, authorities sent him over to Nassau County, where he was locked up on $5🎉00,000 cash bail for the watch theft and an outstanding warrant out of East Rutherford, New Jer꧑sey.

Wan pleaded not guilty to a charge of third-degree grand larceny in 🉐Nassau Di๊strict Court on Sunday morning, according to online court records. His next appearance is slated for Tuesday morning.

He’s also scheduled to be back in Manhattan Criminal Court on May 14, according to court records.

Neither the Miami Police Department nor ꦐthe East R🗹utherford police responded to requests for comment Monday.