SINGAPORE: Told they would earn commissions if they did so, a married couple received over S$1 million from love scam victims and converted the illicit gains to Bitcoin.
Anthony Ng Zi Qin, 53, and Florence Choo Li Jin, 52, who are both Singaporeans, were subsequently arrested and hauled to court on money laundering charges.
On Feb 4, Choo – who made nearly $17,000 in commissions – was sentenced to six years’ and eight months’ jail after she pleaded guilty to four such offences, with seven similar charges taken into consideration.
Ng, who faces 13 charges, is slated to plead guilty on March 10.
The court heard that one Cheng Keng Tiong first approached Ng and asked if he knew how to buy cryptocurrency. Ng then introduced his wife to Cheng.
Cheng told the couple they could receive commissions if they helped someone called “Keith” to collect cash, convert it into USDT, a stablecoin, and use the USDT to buy Bitcoin.
Choo agreed to participate in the scheme in around late 2022. She liaised with Keith directly and divided the commissions amongst herself, Ng and Cheng.
She also recruited another woman, Oh Bee Leng, to help collect money from victims, offering to pay her $100 to $200 each time.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Phoebe Tan said Choo eventually fronted the operation when Cheng said he wanted to take a step back from some of the cash collections. The Straits Times understands Cheng has already been sentenced.
To hide her real identity, Choo used the alias “Luna” and set her WhatsApp such that messages with Oh and the victims would be automatically deleted after 24 hours.
“(Choo) had suspected that the scheme was illegal and had reasonable grounds to believe that the cash received were another person’s benefits from criminal conducts, as she had been previously asked to represent herself as a ‘US service agent’,” said DPP Tan.
“The accused nonetheless continued in the scheme as she was motivated to participate in the scheme for personal gain.”
One of the victims was a 74-year-old woman who fell for a man called “Steven Zhang” on Facebook. The latter claimed he was working as an engineer in an oil rig and needed money due to issues at work.
The woman transferred money to bank accounts provided by “Steven”, who claimed that he would meet her when he could come to Singapore.
Over six months between Feb 1 and Aug 17, 2023, Choo engaged in a conspiracy with Keith and Ng to convert $1,139,210 received from the victim into USDT, and used it to purchase Bitcoin.
The victim did not recover any of the money and was left with just $500,000 in her retirement savings.
In March that same year, another 61-year-old victim also encountered “Steven Zhang” on Facebook – who this time claimed he lived in Miami and was currently in Italy for a project.
She also believed she was in a romantic relationship with him, and had given sums of monies to various people upon his request.
The matter came to light when she no longer had enough to pay and reached out to her son, who took her to make a police report.
Between June 14 and July 8, 2023, Choo, Ng, Oh and Keith converted $225,253 received from the second victim, into USDT to buy Bitcoin.
DPP Tan said there were at least three victims above 60 years old.
The couple were nabbed on Sept 22, 2023, before they could get $115,000 from another 74-year-old retiree.
Choo received at least $16,864 in commissions. Court documents did not state how much Ng earned.
Quoting scams-related offences guidelines, DPP Tan said sentences for such offences must be punitive enough and correspond to the harm suffered by victims.
The prosecutor argued for Choo to be jailed up to seven years and four months, while defence lawyer Cory Wong from Invictus Law pleaded for four years’ and 10 months’ jail.
Wong said Choo later found out Ng had been having an affair and had “made use of her to do his dirty work”.
“Florence would not have otherwise agreed to participate in the first place if not for her husband’s trusted words,” said Wong.
The lawyer also pleaded for compassion, noting that the couple’s teenage son would be left without any parental guidance after both his parents are sentenced to jail. - The Straits Times/ANN
