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A 24-year-old Singaporean man cheated his parents and younger sister of more than S$150,000 to give to his girlfriend, a married woman 19 years his senior.

On Monday (Jun. 7), Lai Sze Yin — now 28 years old — was sentenced to 15 months' jail after pleading guilty to two charges of conspiring to cheat and two charges of cheating, reported CNA.

Met when Lai was delivering parcel to Kwek

According to court documents seen by Mothership, Lai met Jocelyn Kwek Sok Koon — now 47 years old — sometime in July 2016, when Lai delivered a parcel to Kwek's home.

At the time, Kwek was selling bags. Lai and Kwek exchanged contact details and began corresponding over WhatsApp. Kwek began engaging Lai's delivery services.

Over time, court documents said, their relationship blossomed and they began a romantic relationship. Lai was fully aware that Kwek was married and had two children.

Lai was uncomfortable with telling his parents about Kwek, so he fabricated a fake girlfriend named Rachel Lam Xin Yi. He told them that "Rachel" was the same age as him and was studying at the National University of Singapore (NUS).

Lai's parents never met "Rachel" in person, but spoke with her — in reality, it was Kwek — over the phone.

Cheated parents and sister of S$150,000

On Mar. 3, 2017, Lai and Kwek devised a plan to cheat Lai's father of S$5,778, by telling him that the money was needed as a loan to pay for Lai's school fees for the Singapore Institute of Management University (UniSIM).

Lai's father transferred the money to Lai, which Lai then withdrew the following day and gave some of the money to Kwek.

On May 18, 2017, Kwek asked Lai to cheat his younger sister, who is three years younger than him, by telling her that she could earn 30 per cent on the whatever principal amount that she deposited into a bank account that he claimed he and Kwek shared.

Lai knew this to be false, and after his sister gave him S$1,000, Lai gave the amount to Kwek.

On May 22, 2017, Kwek told Lai that she needed around S$8,000 to fund her business. The two conspired to cheat Lai's mother of the money, by lying to him that they needed a loan of S$8,000 to S$9,000 to buy a car.

Lai's mother then gave him S$9,000 to purchase the car, which Lai knew to be false. He then gave to Kwek, who used it to fund her business.

And more

On Oct. 1, 2017, Kwek asked Lai to cheat money from his father again, this time by lying to him that there was an investment opportunity with the United Overseas Bank (UOB) that would earn him an interest of 21 per cent on the principal amount.

Lai's father then transferred him a total of S$80,000 on Oct. 1 and 2 for the purported investment opportunity. Lai transferred S$77,000 of this to Kwek's daughter bank account, and used the remaining S$3,000 to repay a loan that he had gotten from Kwek.

In addition to these four occasions, five other charges were taken into consideration in Lai's sentencing. In total, Lai cheated his parents and sister of S$150,454.

Court documents did not indicate when or how Lai's and Kwek's crimes were discovered.

Defence: Lai was 'manipulated'

According to CNA, the prosecution asked for Lai to be given at least 22 months' jail. She said that he had betrayed his family's trust, even if he was not the main mastermind behind the offences.

Lai's defence lawyer, Anthony Wong, claimed that his client had an "altruistic motive" for committing the crimes, thinking that Kwek genuinely wanted to help his parents grow their money.

Wong said that Lai was under Kwek's "influence and deception". She was the mastermind and instigator, he claimed, and he trusted her and followed her instructions, reported CNA.

He went on to claim that Lai was "manipulated" and was "a mere puppet throughout", and didn't keep any of the money for himself.

Wong also added that Lai had been working hard as a delivery driver and voluntarily returned around S$23,000 to his family members.

CNA added that Wong said that Lai's parents have since forgiven "fully and unconditionally" forgiven him and he has his family's strong support.

Judge: "Not entirely persuaded" about altruistic motive

District Judge Victor Yeo said that he was "not entirely persuaded" about Lai's allegedly "altruistic" movies, but acknowledged that Lai did not benefit monetarily from the cheating, wrote CNA.

However, Yeo accepted that Lai is indeed remorseful. He noted that Lai's parents had pleaded for a more lenient sentence for Lai:

"The accused has promised his parents that he would work extremely hard to return all their life savings at the soonest."

Lai could have faced imprisonment of up to 10 years and fined for each charge of cheating.

CNA reported that Kwek will be going to trial next month.

Top photo by Matthias Ang.