Jailed: Man scammed victims by selling hotel packages, Rolex watches on Carousell
He cheated 16 people on online marketplace of almost $22,000
Unaware that they were being scammed, his victims would browse his Carousell account and make payments for items such as hotel packages and Rolex watches.
In just six months, between March and September, he cheated 16 victims of a total of almost $22,000.
Yesterday, Foo Siang Wee, 27, was jailed 18 months on five counts of cheating and one count of theft in dwelling, with 11 other charges taken into consideration. Foo was able to trick his victims for so long as he kept changing his username on Carousell.
In June last year, one of his victims was browsing Foo's account and placed an order for a Rolex Submariner watch worth $10,000.
Foo directed her to make a deposit payment of $7,000 through a funds transfer.
But when they were supposed to meet for him to hand over the watch to her, Foo claimed he had been cheated. She then lodged a police report.
In July last year, a victim's wife saw an advertisement for a three-day two-night stay at Resorts World Sentosa Beach Villa for $2,000 on Carousell.
Her husband contacted Foo, and after negotiations, Foo agreed to lower the price to $1,300. Foo told him to make payment of $1,000 via a funds transfer.
But he insisted on meeting Foo to hand over the money.
About a week later, the victim and his wife met Foo in Bugis and handed over $1,000 in cash. They also asked Foo to acknowledge the money would be used in partial payment of the hotel package.
After making the payment, the victim's wife went online to check on the hotel booking status, but Foo was then uncontactable.
In March last year, Foo had also stolen US$200 (S$270) from a hotel room safe after entering the room with a master key. It was not stated in court documents how he was able to do this.
In 2016, Foo was also convicted of other cheating offences.
In mitigation, Foo's lawyer said he is the sole breadwinner of the family and has a sickly six-year-old boy.
He wanted to shower his family with material comforts and took a chance at a casino, but that led him to chalk up debts, which led him to commit these cheating offences.
For cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property, Foo could have been jailed up to 10 years and fined.
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