Between November 2018 and 2019, a woman cheated an intellectually disabled man of over S$39,000.
By posing as another woman, she used his feelings for her and asked him to transfer money to several bank accounts to repay her debts.
On Tuesday (31 Jan), 60-year-old Seah Bee Leng pleaded guilty to two charges of cheating and was sentenced to a year in jail.
According to The Straits Times (ST), the man had an IQ in the range of 50 and 70 and worked as an office attendant.
He first got to know Seah when she was working as a masseuse at Pearls Centre shopping mall near Chinatown.
Even after she moved to another parlour at People’s Park Centre, he would still engage her services.
Source: Google Maps
In October 2018, Seah called the man and claimed to be a woman named “Lily”, who was her friend.
Lily apparently told him that Seah’s mother had passed away and she needed money.
As a result, he transferred a sum of money to a bank account, reported Channel NewsAsia (CNA).
Over time, the man developed a romantic interest in Lily as they continued to chat over the phone and via WhatsApp messages.
Under the guise of Lily, Seah proceeded to ask him for money.
She told the man that Lily was a divorcee with a 10-year-old daughter, so he would not request to visit her house.
Then, she would get him to transfer money to various bank accounts that allegedly belonged to herself, her boyfriend and her friends.
Source: Unsplash, for illustration purposes only
Between 31 Oct and 15 Nov 2018, he transferred S$6,980 in total to three bank accounts, one of which belonged to Seah.
The two other accounts belonged to her friends, and the transfers were repayments for the money she owed them.
Between 2018 and 2019, the man transferred another S$$32,030 to multiple bank accounts at Lily’s behest.
In total, he transferred S$39,010 over 159 occasions.
Court documents did not disclose how Seah was eventually caught.
The prosecutor asked for 10 to 13 months’ jail for her, pointing out the amount of cheating and premeditation involved.
According to her lawyer, restitution of S$10,000 was the most she could raise.
Seah will begin serving her sentence on 21 Feb 2023.
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Featured image adapted from jannoon028 on Freepik.
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