SINGAPORE: A car rental business owner was handed a jail sentence over a scheme which saw him subletting vehicles to his clients that he had leased from other firms.
Soon Yunn Chiuan induced them into delivering payments to him, thinking they were servicing their rental agreements. In reality, he was using the funds to cover business costs and his own personal expenses.
The 50-year-old was on Tuesday (Sept 15) handed a jail term of three years and six months after he pleaded guilty to five cheating charges and one forgery indictment.
Another 35 cheating charges were taken into consideration for his sentencing.
His business ran into trouble when he could not keep up with payment to the other firms, and the cars were repossessed from Soon’s customers who had paid upfront or were making monthly payments.
In all, Soon received more than S$295,400 from hirers who thought they were renting cars from him. They suffered a total of S$176,273.50 in losses when the cars were repossessed.
The court heard that Soon’s business was initially profitable, although he ran a car rental business without actually having any of his own cars.
He hatched the plan when he started his business in 2023 on the online marketplace Carousell.
After his clients indicated the make and model of the car they were looking to rent, and agreeing on the price, Soon would check against the stock at other car rental firms.
He would then ask for either a lump sum payment or a deposit from his customers, and use the money to pay the other car rental firms on a weekly or monthly basis.
The business model initially turned a profit.
But Soon ran into trouble in March 2023 after he expanded his business and rented more cars for subletting, but could not keep up with payments.
By then, he was also using the money his clients paid him to cover his personal expenses.
He did this knowing that if he missed payments to the other car rental firms, the vehicles he had sublet to his own customers would be repossessed.
But Soon stuck to his guns, sometimes taking payment upfront to cover the whole rental period.
By 2025, he was advertising his business on Carousell using different company names to prolong his scheme. He also avoided customers who learnt that he had cheated them.
The forgery charge related to an incident in 2024 after he became acquainted with the owner of Zupreme Services, a car rental business he had been leasing from for some time.
Zupreme had agreed to let Soon sublet its cars, with his customers signing contracts that had the firm’s details.
The contract was meant to be used only for cars owned by Zupreme, but in August 2024, Soon used it to mislead a customer into renting a car belonging to another firm.
As a result of the contract bearing Zupreme’s details, the client paid to Soon $13,400 for a rental period of 18 months.
He has since made $1,850 in restitution to the client. - The Straits Times/ANN
