Singapore’s Biggest Money Scams
What are some of the things you’ll do for money? Would you get a job and start saving up every month? Or maybe try your luck with the lottery because who knows, you might strike big one day.
What about, perhaps, something entirely different? Such as scamming others of their money, for example.
After it was reported that 70-year-old Setho Irene had successfully duped over 1,300 people into paying roughly $37.5 million – of which $11 million she pocketed – for fake memberships at the Keppel Club for a period of 10 years, it got us thinking. What are some other incidents where huge amounts of money was scammed in Singapore?
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So we here at MustShareNews have decided to do a little digging and find out more about people being cheated of their money. Without further ado, we present to you 10 of the most notable cases of money scams in Singapore.
1. Sunshine Empire
Starting off this list is perhaps the biggest and most infamous Ponzi scheme in Singapore — Sunshine Empire’s.
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Started by James Phang – who saw himself as Asia’s answer to Warren Buffett – in 2006, Sunshine Empire promised huge returns by offering lifestyle packages that would pay out monthly rebates amounting to an overall return of 160% within a year.
Ranging from $240 to $12,000, approximately 26,000 lifestyle packages were invested in by Singaporeans in just 15 months.
But when the police’s Commercial Affairs Department raided the firm in November 2007, it was discovered that a whopping $180 million had been swindled. Of that amount, $115 million was paid out as “investment returns” while the remaining $65 million was pocketed by Mr Phang, his wife and their business associates.
Unfortunately, only $21 million was ever recovered by the authorities.
Mr Phang would eventually be sentenced to nine year’s jail with a fine of – wait for it – $60,000. That amount for $65 million? Not too bad of a trade off wouldn’t you say?
2. Data Register
In 2013, a total of 139,833 business letters were sent out by business services firm Data Register. These letters – under the guise of the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) – threatened to delete businesses from the “Singaporean Company Register” database unless verification details were provided.
They were then pressured to subscribe to Data Register for an annual fee of $490.
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In total, 21,780 recipients were duped due to the similarities with correspondence issued by the actual ACRA and other Government agencies.
By our calculations, this meant that a total of at least $10.7 million was obtained.
This scam continued well into 2014 despite ACRA’s investigations into Data Register’s practices. They were eventually charged in court with a fine of $400 on each of the 500 charges — amounting to a total of $200,000.
Still, a relatively small price to pay considering the millions obtained.
3. Macro Realty Developments
Between July 2014 and March 2016, over 1,700 investors lent Macro Realty Developments a whopping total of almost A$110 million — which included 981 investors from Singapore alone.
The firm was controlled by Australian businesswoman Veronica Macpherson.
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The 37-year-old had encouraged investors to pump money into property developments in Western Australia’s Pilbara by promising returns as high as 18% — unfortunately, the places were often either partially developed or not at all.
One Singaporean – claiming that he was promised an interest of 14% – was reported to have put in $20,000.
Another had invested A$40,000 after hearing Ms Macpherson’s promoting of the Newman Estate investment in 2013.
Macro Realty Developments guaranteed monthly returns in the project. For a few months, I got my money. And then the hiccups came.
The Ponzi scheme eventually collapsed when a lack of investors prevented it from meeting its expenses.
4. Sim Tee Peng, the serial cheat
Passing himself off as a lawyer to property buyers, serial cheat Sim Tee Peng successfully cheated and misappropriated nearly $1.8 million over a period of 14 months.
Receiving between $17,088 and $312,000 from each victim, his plan was described by District Judge Low Wee Ping as almost like a Ponzi scheme.
For a period of slightly over a year, Sim had instructed victims to deposit money into his account on the premise of collecting stamp duty payments and conveyancing-related fees — supposedly on behalf of four law firms. He would also create fake documents and invoices to trick them into believing that their fees were paid.
Once, he even passed himself off as a partner of a law firm.
He was eventually caught in Jan 2012 when the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore investigated the forged stamp certificates handled by him. He was jailed on February 2016 for a total of seven years and two months.
5. The uncles and auntie of illegal gambling
This next elderly made over $17 million from illegal gambling — but not the way you’d expect.
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Leading a group of six, 53-year-old Seet Seo Boon made his fortune for years as the ringleader of illegal lotteries such as 4D and TOTO while also remaining one step ahead of the law.
His group of oldies included:
- Seet Seo Boon, 53
- See Chye Huat, 50
- Or Poh Soon, 55
- Lim Poi Hwa, 62
- Seah Ee Lam, 67
- Toh Hee Choye, 62
They were amongst 49 people arrested last year in a raid that Channel NewsAsia reported to have crippled a multi-million dollar gambling ring.
We’re not sure what’s more impressive — running an illegal gambling rig at such a ripe age or being the first in Singapore to be charged under the new Organised Crime Act.
Maybe they should’ve just waited for their CPFs.
6. Profitable Plots
Set up in 2005, Profitable Plots had it all — well spoken salespeople with a huge presence in the UK and fancy commercials featuring football icons on channels such as ESPN.
Their pitch was simple, buy plots of land in the UK and get returns of up to 300% in 3 to 5 years.
They had also lured Singaporeans with promises of 12.5% returns within six months as long as they invested in the sale of Boron — a fuel product.
Unfortunately, investors were reported to have collectively lost more than $8 million.
Directors Timothy Goldring and John Nordmann would eventually be jailed for a total of 15 years after a joint trail that began in April 2013.
7. Love scams in Singapore
The premise is simple, an attractive foreigner befriends a victim on social media or online chat apps and dupes them of their money through various cons after gaining their trust.
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You just got love scammed.
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It’s actually really common in Singapore but what makes this case in particular so special is the amount of money that was involved — $1.2 million.
Now, we understand that Channel NewsAsia had previously reported that the largest amount cheated in a single case this year was close to $6 million. But we couldn’t find any information on that case so we’re settling for second place.
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In 2016, an administrator in her 50s had met an American engineer and investor on Facebook and had grown close to him before he suggested coming to Singapore to live with her. However, he was mysteriously unable to do so due to documentation issues in Malaysia.
Adding on to the list of “Cliche Scams 101”, a Nigerian middleman – claiming to be able to help bring the American’s USD$5 million into Singapore – got involved as well.
He told the woman to transfer money – over a period of time – in order to help process some documents to get her soulmate into Singapore.
By the time she had realized she’d been played, the heartbroken dame had already transferred a total of $1.2 million — losing all her savings and ending up in debt.
Keep in mind that this was just $1.2 million, we’d love to know how the $6 million one came about.
8. EcoHouse Group
Brazilian housing developer EcoHouse was supposedly endorsed by the government to build social housing. They claimed to lead a noble cause by providing people with an opportunity to help develop property for the poor in Brazil.
And it was really straightforward as well, invest and you’ll receive 20% returns per annum.
But alas.
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If something seems too good to be true, it probably is — unfortunately, over 1,500 Singaporeans who put in $70 million learnt this the hard way.
Initially when the returns promised were not received by the investors, EcoHouse claimed that they were facing issues such as worker shortage. Over time however, things didn’t change and they were put on the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) alert list by MAS.
Their office in Suntec would soon close and the situation grew so big that the Brazilian government had to step in and deny any relations to the developer.
However clear the scam was now made no difference — EcoHouse was based overseas and the Singapore courts has no means of reaching them. As long as the money was transferred abroad, it’s as good as gone.
9. Alvin Ang’s sports betting syndicate
Promising risk-free returns, Alvin Ang Jun Bin ran a sports betting syndicate that involved a lot of victims. No really, there were so many that they even set up a WhatsApp group.
Claiming to be a representative of Keystone Trading in Singapore, Ang’s victims are estimated to have lost over $1 million.
A 22-year-old who runs an F&B business lost roughly $55,000 in cash and $72,000 worth of luxury watches. According to him, this was what he was promised:
He promised returns of 2 to 10 per cent every month. I did not get a single cent and he is now uncontactable.
A bank employee – who persuaded his friends and family to invest $200,000 – even fell into depression and attempted suicide after having lost all his money.
Mr Ang would eventually disconnect his mobile line and disappear. Visits to his house only resulted in his father informing reporters that he had moved out sometime in 2015.
10. OCBC insurance policy scam
Our last entry successfully managed to cause OCBC Bank to to suffer an exposure of $276,814 — oh, he also pocketed over $400,000 in the process.
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32-year-old Chng Kunda had promised a total of eight clients cash rebates if they made early payments for their Great Eastern (GE) insurance policies. Which was fine except that no such rebate actually existed.
Committing the offences between August 2011 and April 2014, Chng would get his clients to fill in portions of forms under the illusion that GE was the payee. He would then fill in his mother’s bank account details on the carbon copies and have them processed – along with the client’s identity card – at an OCBC branch. The money would then be transferred to his mother’s account.
This continued until two clients complained to OCBC about receiving payment reminders despite already having done so to Mr Chng.
In total, he deceived a total of $414,000 — $274,000 of which went to personal expenses.
Always do your research before investing
If there’s one takeaway from these 10 examples, it’s that no matter how good an investment claims to be, it’s always best to exercise caution and also to constantly keep track on the progress should you actually invest.
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Ponzi scheme or not, it shouldn’t be done at the expense of your life savings. If something is too good to be true, chances are it probably is. Always be sure to do research on the company before investing in your hard earned money.
Alternatively, you can head to the MAS’ Investor Alert list and see if the company you’re about to invest in is listed.
Aren’t you glad that the Government limited our CPF withdrawal now?
Featured image from TNP, AsiaOne, Straits Times, Straits Times, Straits Times, The West Australian
The post 10 Financial Frauds In Singapore Who Earned Millions The Wrong Way appeared first on Must Share News.
