SINGAPORE: Shortly after his wife died, a man shared details of his bank accounts with people he met online who claimed to be women, only to find out that some of the accounts were later used to handle scam proceeds.
Christopher Moh, 66, shared his bank account details with these people despite receiving two warnings from the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD). He did not meet any of the women in person.
On Oct 16, he was sentenced to a year and nine months’ jail after he pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including two counts of misusing computer systems.
According to court documents, Moh’s wife died in May 2021, and seven months later, he met a woman known as “Jenny Cheng Ling” on Facebook.
The pair started chatting and she told him she came from Australia. “Jenny” said she loved Moh and told the widower she wanted to see him in Singapore.
In February 2022, she told him she had arrived here, but claimed she had to be “quarantined” for a week.
“Jenny” then asked him to transfer a loan of S$1,000 to an unknown bank account and he complied. Moh offered to meet her a week later, but she declined the offer.
Some time on or before March 17, 2022, she told him that she needed his help to open a Singapore bank account for business purposes.
Moh then opened an account with Maybank Singapore and shared its access details with her.
When the account was frozen, he opened one with DBS Bank and shared similar details with “Jenny”.
He later shared with her details linked to his personal account with POSB, which was used to handle $4,000 in scam proceeds in April 2022.
CAD investigated him the following month, but he reoffended soon after.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Darren Ang told the court that Moh got to know a woman identified as “Alicia Jee Joon” on Facebook in early 2022, and started corresponding with her on WhatsApp.
“Alicia” told Moh she was living in Amsterdam and was running a chemical engineering business. He developed feelings for her and even hoped to marry her when she came to Singapore.
Some time on or before Dec 13, 2022, she asked him to help her with transferring some money online.
He then disclosed to her details linked to his existing personal account with OCBC Bank.
On Dec 13, 2022, $17,000 was credited into the account. After that, “Alicia” told him to withdraw the whole amount and use the money to buy iTunes cards.
He later withdrew $5,000, bought six such cards and snapped pictures of them.
Moh then shared the pictures with “Alicia”, and the OCBC account was also frozen soon after.
After CAD again investigated Moh in December 2022, he blocked her on WhatsApp, only to resume communicating with her the following year.
Moh also became acquainted with an unknown person, known only as “Angelica”, whom he also began corresponding with over WhatsApp.
On June 24, 2023, Moh created a UOB account in his name. He then provided “Alicia” and “Angelica” with details linked to the account so that they could make transfers into it.
The account subsequently received cash totalling more than $49,000, of which $14,800 was later found to be proceeds of a love scam.
The DPP said: “The accused has never met... Jenny, Alicia or Angelica in person but nevertheless handed over his personal accounts to them.
“He knew from the two warnings from the CAD in May and December 2022 that by handing over his bank accounts to online personas... his bank accounts would be used by unknown persons to deal in benefits of criminal conduct.”
Moh’s bail was set at $10,000 on Wednesday (Oct 16), and he is expected to surrender himself at the State Courts on Nov 1 to begin serving his sentence. - The Straits Times/ANN
