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A 60-year-old Singaporean woman pleaded guilty to two cheating charges and was sentenced to a year in jail on Jan. 31 for scamming her mildly intellectually disabled patron of S$39,010 over 159 occasions, reported The Straits Times.

According to court documents, the accused, Seah Bee Leng, first got to know her victim when she worked at a massage parlour at Pearls Centre, located near Outram Park.

After she moved to a massage parlour at People's Park Centre, her victim continued visiting her for her services.

The victim has a mild intellectual disability with an IQ in the range of 50 to 70 and works as an office attendant.

What happened

In October 2018, Seah contacted her victim posing as "Lily" and claimed she was Seah's friend.

She also told the victim that Seah would need some money as Seah's mother had passed away.

The victim did not check with Seah and transferred a sum of money to a bank account.

Over time, the victim became romantically interested in Lily and continued to chat with her over calls and WhatApp, not knowing her true identity.

Seah then started asking the victim for money under various pretexts.

In order to pursue a romantic relationship with Lily, the victim complied with her requests and transferred the money to various bank accounts that Lily had provided.

To prevent her victim from asking her to visit her house, which would cause her love scam to fall through, Seah lied to the victim that she was a divorcee with a 10-year-old daughter.

Between Oct. 31 and Nov. 15, 2018, Seah dishonestly induced her victim into transferring a total of S$6,980 across 15 occasions to her.

The victim thought that Lily required the money for her expenses.

Amongst the three bank accounts provided by Seah, only one account belonged to her. The two other accounts belonged to her friends who she owed money to.

Seah made the victim repay her debts unknowingly.

However, Seah did not stop there.

Between Nov. 30, 2018 and Nov. 19, 2019, Seah repeated her old tricks and further deceived her victim into transferring a total of S$32,030 across 144 occasions.

This time round, besides asking her victim to transfer money to her creditors, Seah also asked him to transfer money to her boyfriend's bank account because she had asked her boyfriend to help her buy daily necessities or food.

Seah made restitution, asked for extension before jail

As of Jan. 31, Seah has made restitution of S$10,000.

Her lawyer also asked for a lighter sentence, citing that it was the first time Seah committed the offence, she is "deeply remorseful" about her actions, and she is a mother, as well as a grandmother to three grandchildren, reported Shin Min Daily News.

After Seah received her sentence, her lawyer also added that the accused would like to ask for an extension of three weeks before serving her sentence so that she can settle matters surrounding her house and grandchildren, Shin Min reported.

The court granted the extension, and Seah's bail was set at S$15,000, reported ST.

ST also reported that Seah is expected to surrender herself at the State Courts on Feb. 21 to begin serving her sentence.

For each count of cheating, Seah could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined.

Top image via SG Courts' Facebook