SINGAPORE: A man kept avoiding paying for goods by using cheques that he knew would bounce to foot more than S$26,000 (US$20,190) in phone bills and using an altered PayNow screenshot to buy Viagra from a clinic.
Ho Kien Mun, a 56-year-old Singaporean, was sentenced to 11 weeks' jail on Thursday (Sep 25).
He pleaded guilty to 11 charges of cheating, with another 19 charges taken into consideration for sentencing.
These include charges of cheating petrol stations into giving petrol to him on the promise that he would pay later as he had forgotten his wallet.
The court heard that Ho previously operated a company called SLT Peripherals & Services from 2009 to 2011.
Although the company became defunct and its bank accounts were closed, Ho retained a chequebook for the company's corporate banking account.
In early 2018, Ho began racking up large bills with Singtel by making overseas calls and calls to "1900" chatlines.
By his own estimate, he made calls about four to five times a week, with each call lasting 30 minutes to an hour.
As he was unable to pay his Singtel bills, the telco informed him that it would terminate his phone service.
To stave this off, Ho used his old chequebook to issue a cheque from his defunct company for the billed amount. He would then send the cheque to Singtel via post and get a receipt, which he used to show a Singtel staff member as proof of payment.
He issued 10 such cheques for a total amount of S$26,123.38 between February 2018 and September 2019, despite knowing that Singtel would not receive payment.
As a result of Ho's cheating, Singtel reinstated his phone service, but the cheques bounced as their associated account was closed.
In the meantime, Ho would make at least partial payment via other means and Singtel eventually received actual payment.
Because of this, the telco did not immediately re-terminate Ho's phone line on account of the bounced cheques.
Singtel ultimately recovered the cost of the phone services provided to Ho.
On Sep 25, 2023, Ho visited a clinic at Block 283, Bishan Street 22 to buy Viagra pills worth S$91.
As he had financial troubles, he did not want to make payment for the medication.
He used an image-editing programme to edit a screenshot of a successful PayNow transfer and made it seem like he had paid for the viagra.
The clinic gave him the medicine on the basis of the doctored screenshot.
Ho could not be contacted by multiple investigation officers who were attempting to record statements from him.
A police gazette was issued for his arrest and he was arrested in June 2024.
The prosecutor sought 11 to 15 weeks' jail for Ho, saying he had a clear pattern of offending.
He not only issued dud cheques, but dispatched them via Singpost to buy himself even more time for the cheque to clear, said the prosecutor.
While Ho eventually made payment before investigations commenced and Singtel did not suffer any serious loss, this does not negate the offence, he added.
The prosecutor said he accepted that Ho had made full restitution.
However, he said the way Ho racked up such a large phone bill was "not in any way a necessity".
On Ho thinking that he was being scammed when contacted by multiple police investigators, the prosecutor said there were ways to verify their identities.
"We can't give weight to people saying - oh, I thought the police officers calling me is a scam, and therefore I just ignore them," said the prosecutor.
However, he accepted that Ho was not trying to escape justice.
The judge said the sentence must be "sufficiently severe" considering the time over which the cheating offences were committed and the number of charges taken into consideration.
While no financial loss was caused, it is not a case where there was no harm to any party, said the judge, flagging the "considerable degree of administrative inconvenience" to the victim companies.
Defence lawyer Jai Prakash sought a deferment of the jail term, saying his client needed to find a caregiver for his sickly elderly father and to make arrangements with his ex-wife to take his daughter to a medical appointment.
Ho is working in the sales industry and wanted a proper handover to his management now that he knows the jail period, said the lawyer.
The judge granted the request.
Continue reading...
Ho Kien Mun, a 56-year-old Singaporean, was sentenced to 11 weeks' jail on Thursday (Sep 25).
He pleaded guilty to 11 charges of cheating, with another 19 charges taken into consideration for sentencing.
These include charges of cheating petrol stations into giving petrol to him on the promise that he would pay later as he had forgotten his wallet.
THE CASE
The court heard that Ho previously operated a company called SLT Peripherals & Services from 2009 to 2011.
Although the company became defunct and its bank accounts were closed, Ho retained a chequebook for the company's corporate banking account.
In early 2018, Ho began racking up large bills with Singtel by making overseas calls and calls to "1900" chatlines.
By his own estimate, he made calls about four to five times a week, with each call lasting 30 minutes to an hour.
As he was unable to pay his Singtel bills, the telco informed him that it would terminate his phone service.
To stave this off, Ho used his old chequebook to issue a cheque from his defunct company for the billed amount. He would then send the cheque to Singtel via post and get a receipt, which he used to show a Singtel staff member as proof of payment.
He issued 10 such cheques for a total amount of S$26,123.38 between February 2018 and September 2019, despite knowing that Singtel would not receive payment.
As a result of Ho's cheating, Singtel reinstated his phone service, but the cheques bounced as their associated account was closed.
In the meantime, Ho would make at least partial payment via other means and Singtel eventually received actual payment.
Because of this, the telco did not immediately re-terminate Ho's phone line on account of the bounced cheques.
Singtel ultimately recovered the cost of the phone services provided to Ho.
On Sep 25, 2023, Ho visited a clinic at Block 283, Bishan Street 22 to buy Viagra pills worth S$91.
As he had financial troubles, he did not want to make payment for the medication.
He used an image-editing programme to edit a screenshot of a successful PayNow transfer and made it seem like he had paid for the viagra.
The clinic gave him the medicine on the basis of the doctored screenshot.
Ho could not be contacted by multiple investigation officers who were attempting to record statements from him.
A police gazette was issued for his arrest and he was arrested in June 2024.
The prosecutor sought 11 to 15 weeks' jail for Ho, saying he had a clear pattern of offending.
He not only issued dud cheques, but dispatched them via Singpost to buy himself even more time for the cheque to clear, said the prosecutor.
While Ho eventually made payment before investigations commenced and Singtel did not suffer any serious loss, this does not negate the offence, he added.
The prosecutor said he accepted that Ho had made full restitution.
However, he said the way Ho racked up such a large phone bill was "not in any way a necessity".
On Ho thinking that he was being scammed when contacted by multiple police investigators, the prosecutor said there were ways to verify their identities.
"We can't give weight to people saying - oh, I thought the police officers calling me is a scam, and therefore I just ignore them," said the prosecutor.
However, he accepted that Ho was not trying to escape justice.
The judge said the sentence must be "sufficiently severe" considering the time over which the cheating offences were committed and the number of charges taken into consideration.
While no financial loss was caused, it is not a case where there was no harm to any party, said the judge, flagging the "considerable degree of administrative inconvenience" to the victim companies.
Defence lawyer Jai Prakash sought a deferment of the jail term, saying his client needed to find a caregiver for his sickly elderly father and to make arrangements with his ex-wife to take his daughter to a medical appointment.
Ho is working in the sales industry and wanted a proper handover to his management now that he knows the jail period, said the lawyer.
The judge granted the request.
Continue reading...