S'porean man, 22, depleted grandma's savings of S$280,000, lied to her & police that she was scammed

Since 2021, a Singaporean woman in her 70s had entrusted her savings of S$280,000 to her grandson so that he could help her make online purchases, pay bills, and make donations.

She did so because she suffered from Parkinson's disease, had difficulty remembering her online banking password, was not fully competent in the English language, and was unfamiliar with using online systems.

However, instead of following her instructions, her grandson, Adam Ilhan Mohamad Idhamsahbani, transferred the funds to his own bank account and spent them all on personal purchases, which included a laptop, desktop, and in-game purchases.

When Adam's grandmother alerted the police about the depletion of her savings, he lied to a police investigation officer that she had fallen victim to online scams.

Although Adam tried to add credibility to his story by forging two letters he claimed to have received from the police, his offences came to light after police looked deeper into his claims and the letters.

Following his arrest, Adam, now 22, was sentenced to 20 months and four weeks in jail on Apr. 9, 2025, after admitting to his offences, reported The Straits Times.

'Tempted by greed'

According to court documents seen by Mothership, Adam misappropriated his grandmother's funds, which were saved in five bank accounts, between January 2023 and December 2023.

At the time, his grandmother was 75 years old.

Upon accessing and seeing the large amounts of funds in her bank accounts, Adam was "tempted by greed" and transferred the funds to his personal bank account over several transactions without his grandmother's knowledge or consent.

Grandmother believed Adam's story

However, Adam's maneuver did not go completely under the radar, as his grandmother lodged a police report on Jan. 17, 2024, stating that she had spotted discrepancies in her bank accounts' balance as early as August 2023.

At the time, she noticed that her funds had shrunk from S$230,000 to S$195,000 without her knowledge.

Four months later, she realised that there were no funds left in her bank accounts.

When she informed Adam about her discoveries, he responded that he had made enquiries with the bank involved.

He also claimed that he had met a police officer and a bank representative, who told him that she might have fallen for scams.

As a result, the police had frozen her bank accounts for investigations, causing her to lose her funds, said Adam.

To support his claims, Adam also showed his grandmother two letters he allegedly received from the police regarding the matter.

Eventually, Adam's grandmother became convinced that the funds in her accounts were depleted because Adam's laptop, which he used to access her bank accounts, was compromised by scammers.

Lied to police despite warning

Following Adam's grandmother's police report, the police launched an investigation and requested Adam to provide his statement.

Although the police investigation officer warned Adam that he was bound to state what he knew of the case truthfully before recording his statement, Adam went ahead with his fabricated story.

In the version he provided to the police, Adam included several details, including an alleged meeting he had with two unknown males, whom he believed to be a police officer and a bank representative.

He further claimed that he had collected two letters explaining the disappearance of his grandmother's savings from an unknown male outside Ang Mo Kio South Neighbourhood Police Centre (NPC).

To corroborate his story above, Adam produced two letters bearing the Singapore Police Force (SPF) letterhead to the investigation officer.

He also confirmed that his statements were true at the end of the recording.

Admitted to lying to police

After receiving Adam's statement on Jan. 17, 2024, the police began verifying the information he provided, including by checking the location where he claimed the alleged meeting with the police officer and bank representative took place.

On Jan. 18, 2024, the police also visited Adam's residence and requested him to provide further details of the account he gave in his statement the day before.

It was then that Adam admitted that the information he had provided was untrue.

He had done so because he wanted to mislead the police into omitting investigations against him and to maintain the same version of events which he had told the victim previously to avoid any suspicion.

He came up with the story after learning about scams involving impersonation of government officials through advertisements.

'Lack of remorse' from Adam: prosecution

On Apr. 7, 2025, Adam made a partial restitution of S$100,000 to his grandmother.

Two days later, he was sentenced to 20 months and four weeks in jail after pleading guilty to one charge of criminal breach of trust and another count of providing false information to the police.

During court proceedings, the prosecution submitted that Adam had not displayed remorse for his offences even though he was caught, reported ST.

According to the prosecution, Adam had said in mitigation that it was his grandmother's act of entrusting him with her bank accounts that allowed him to deplete her savings.

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