SINGAPORE: A conman pretended to be a female foreign student on messaging platform Telegram and duped a 17-year-old boy of S$190 for food and sexual services that were not rendered.
Tan Shi Ren also obtained the teenager’s Singpass details by claiming that “she” wanted to apply for a bursary and needed somebody to be a guardian.
An unidentified person used the victim’s credentials to open three bank accounts, through which more than $105,000 was later transacted. Of this amount, over $61,500 was known to be linked to scams.
Tan, 22, was sentenced to six months and five days’ jail on Aug 13, after he pleaded guilty to one count each of cheating and helping another person retain the benefits of criminal conduct.
Tan told investigators that he had been looking for ways to earn cash when he went on Telegram and came across an unnamed person who was willing to pay $6,000 for a Singpass account.
Assistant Public Prosecutor Chye Jer Yuan said: “Rather than provide his own Singpass credentials, the accused decided to deceive the victim into parting with his Singpass credentials.
“The accused knew that the buyer would use the Singpass account to open bank account for the laundering of ‘dirty’ money. He claimed that he did not receive the money as promised after selling the account to the buyer and the buyer had deleted the chat.”
Tan pretended to be “Kattie Won” and befriended the victim on Telegram, before they started exchanging messages on WhatsApp in April 2023.
“Kattie” claimed to be a foreign student in Singapore who offered sexual services to pay for school fees and food.
On April 24, 2023, the victim transferred $190 to a bank account belonging to “Kattie”.
The court heard that $170 was for sexual services, and “Kattie” claimed that $20 would be used to buy food.
“Kattie” also asked for the teenager’s help to stand in as a guardian and partner for a purported bursary application.
The scammer then asked the teenager for his Singpass details and the latter complied.
On April 25, 2023, “Kattie” was supposed to meet the victim, who waited for four hours at an undisclosed location but no one turned up.
APP Chye told the court: “‘She’ only messaged him after he had left, informing that ‘she’ had reached (the location).
“The victim suspected that it could be a scam, so he did not reply to her, although she continued to message him.”
The following month, the victim received a letter from a bank asking him to update his mobile number and e-mail address.
The teenager, who had not opened an account with the bank, then conducted a check and found that somebody had opened an account under his name.
He alerted the police on May 12, 2023 and investigators found that the bank accounting belonging to “Kattie” was linked to Tan.
Officers arrested the scammer six days later, and he has since made a restitution of $190 to the teenager.
On Aug 13, the prosecution said that a probation was likely to be unsuitable in Tan’s case as his offences were serious and premeditated.
APP Chye urged the court to sentence Tan to at least six months and five days’ jail, stressing that with a rise in scam cases, a deterrent sentence was needed.
Tan’s bail has been set at $10,000, and he is expected to begin serving his sentence on Aug 20. - The Straits Times/ANN
