On Wednesday (2 Oct), three tourists were charged for defrauding members of the public of more than S$2,600.
30-year-old Zhu Lianye and 33-year-old Zhou Jiemei (names transliterated from Chinese) faced five charges of making false statements.
A male defendant, 35-year-old Ding Shuai, faced ten charges of making false statements and illegally possessing stolen goods.
Ding Shuai was said to be the mastermind behind the scam, and reportedly took 60% of the cut looted from their victims.
The trio arrived in Singapore on 3 Aug and were arrested the night before they were meant to leave Singapore, reports Shin Min Daily News.
The tourists, who were all from China, had told members of the public that they could only pay for their expenses via the Chinese messaging app WeChat.
The elaborate scam involved the two female tourists, Zhu Lianye and Zhou Jiemei, approaching strangers at different locations to ‘borrow’ money from them.
On one instance, at about 6.30pm on 8 Aug, the pair had approached a victim near Toa Payoh MRT station.
At first, they asked if there were any Chinese restaurants nearby as they could only pay via WeChat Pay.
Source: SAMPi
As there were no merchants nearby that accepted such payments, they lied that they needed to borrow money to pay for their meals.
The victim had initially withdrawn S$60 to pay for the tourists’ food.
However, a further S$950 was given to the two women after they claimed that they had to pay hotel fees and other expenses.
The defendants also promised that they would pay the victim back the following day.
Additionally, they provided their WeChat accounts so that the victim was able to contact them.
The two tourists used the above method to swindle other victims at different locations in Singapore, namely at:
In total, the tourists had tricked five members of the public and racked up over S$2,600 in their scam.
They were eventually arrested for their crimes on 15 Aug, just a day before their supposed departure.
The judge in the case highlighted that the tourists had taken advantage of the victims who had shown kindness to them.
The prosecution also added that they had planned out the scam in advance and in an elaborate manner.
By using transnational methods, the individuals increased the difficulty of law enforcement by the authorities.
Source: Canva, for illustration purposes only.
Zhou Jiemei’s lawyer had pleaded for leniency, stating that the defendant felt sorry and regretted it very much.
She also added that the 30-year-old had elderly parents and a young daughter, and was the family’s breadwinner.
On the other hand, Zhu Lianye did not have a lawyer to represent her.
She had also pleaded for leniency, saying that she had been reflecting on her actions during her remand.
The defendant also had a young child, parents who were farmers, and was in the process of divorcing her husband.
The two female tourists were each handed a six-month prison sentence for their role in the scam.
For being the mastermind of the scam, the prosecution had requested eight months’ jail for Ding Shuai.
He is facing ten charges of making false statements and illegally possessing stolen goods.
His case had been adjourned to 11 Oct.
Also read: Man in M’sia scammed of S$7K by ‘S’porean woman buying sperm to get pregnant’
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