S'pore man, 26, cheats 21 victims of S$14,900 in rental scam, gets 20 months' jail

A 26-year-old man was sentenced to jail for perpetuating a rental scam where he deceived 21 victims that he was renting out his unit when he had no intention of doing so.

He cheated the victims of S$14,900.

According to court documents, the man also gave two unknown Telegram users his iBanking details and Singpass access.

Shin Min Daily News reported that the judge noted that while the man had no criminal record, he had committed the same crime numerous times, and the frequency of the crime was significant.

As such, the punishment should reflect his transgressions, it was noted, and he was sentenced to 20 months' jail.

Desperate

Court documents stated that around March 2023, Lee Wei Jie came across a Facebook post about a rental scam where the victim was scammed after she placed a deposit for a rental unit.

As he faced financial difficulties then, he also decided to use that scam.

Lee went onto Facebook to search for people looking to rent in the Facebook group " ilive.sg", and he would privately message them.

He would offer his room in Punggol for rent, usually quoting a rental fee of S$600 to S$800 per month.

He would then arrange a viewing for those interested before collecting a deposit from them.

The victims

In April 2023, Lee told a person that he could no longer rent the room to her and promised to refund the S$550 deposit.

To date, Lee has not refunded the deposit.

In the same month, he told another prospective tenant that she could only move in if she transferred more money to him, but she refused.

She requested a refund of the S$400 rental deposit, but Lee refused to give the money back as he claimed that he had kept the room for her.

In May 2023, Lee received a S$2,200 deposit from a potential tenant as the victim wanted to rent out Lee's entire unit.

However, Lee could not confirm if the prospective tenant could move into the unit.

The prospective tenant requested a refund of the deposit, and Lee agreed.

However, the prospective tenant could not contact Lee for a refund.

In November 2023, Lee received S$500 as a deposit from a potential tenant.

In December 2023, Lee met with the tenant, handed her a key to his unit, and told her the tenancy was effective for one year from Dec. 29, 2023.

The tenant then transferred another S$900 to Lee and was informed that she could move into the unit on Dec. 28, 2023, after 2pm.

But when the tenant arrived at the unit, Lee's father informed her that it was not for rent and asked her to leave.

In February 2024, another victim was browsing Facebook for rooms to rent when Lee contacted him to offer him a room.

The victim viewed the unit, decided to rent two rooms, and transferred S$1,550 to Lee.

After the transfers, the victim read on the news that Lee was involved in rental scams and contacted him to request a refund of S$1,550.

Despite Lee's promise of a refund, he did not give the money back to the victim.

Lee committed the last two offences while he was out on court bail.

Gave up banking details and Singpass

In 2021, an unknown Telegram user offered Lee S$300 bi-weekly for the use of his bank accounts.

Lee accepted the offer and gave the iBanking details of his existing POSB/ DBS account to the user.

However, Lee did not receive any monetary payment from the Telegram user after he gave up his banking details.

Investigations revealed that S$18,000.31 flowed through that particular POSB/ DBS account between Mar. 7 and 8, 2022.

The account also surfaced in at least nine police reports that involved at least S$15,000 in scam proceeds.

The bank account was subsequently frozen, but the vast majority of the monies had been dissipated, and a balance of S$0.29 was left when the account was frozen.

In 2022, another unknown Telegram user offered Lee S$1,000 to use his Singpass account for a week.

As Lee was desperate for money, he accepted the offer and gave up his Singpass details.

However, Lee did not receive any monetary payment from the Telegram user.

As a result, a Standard Chartered account was opened under Lee's name without his knowledge, and the account surfaced in at least one police report involving a single transaction of at least S$2,800 in scam proceeds.

Top photo via Google Maps & Shin Min Daily News