Man, 19, planned to rob & assault crypto buyer of S$32,000 cash in meet-up in Hougang, backed out of plan last minute

A 19-year-old man colluded with three others to rob a cryptocurrency buyer under the pretence of conducting an offline transaction.

Peh Chun Kiat Malcom, 19, came up with the idea alongside Yee Hong Fai Benedict, 30, to deceive a buyer into bringing S$32,000 in cash to a meeting.

They enlisted two other men, Mohamed Ilhan, 21, and Syed Zafirul Alsagoff, 19, to assault the victim and take the money.

However, Peh backed out at the last minute, while the other three went ahead with the plan.

Peh has now pleaded guilty to one count of attempted robbery with wounding on Jul. 9, reported Shin Min Daily News.

The plan

Peh first met Yee through a mutual friend on Telegram.

The two came up with the idea of ​​selling Tether as bait to lure buyers out and then rob them.

Peh met the 20-year-old victim in a group chat sharing about cryptocurrency trading.

He took the initiative to chat with him privately at 5:50pm on Aug. 28, 2024.

He claimed that he was willing to sell him Tether worth S$30,000.

After some persuasion, the victim agreed to go to Hougang Green Shopping Mall at around 6pm the next day to conduct the transaction.

Backed out

On Aug. 29, Peh and Yee told Ilhan and Zafirul that the victim had "done something wrong" and asked them to beat the victim and give them the money afterwards.

They did not tell the two of their plan to rob the victim.

At around 6pm, Peh saw a police car driving into the mall and became scared.

He decided to back out and said he did not want to participate anymore.

He also said he did not mind getting less money.

Yee agreed.

Others followed through

Peh then went to the bus stop opposite to watch and saw the victim talking to Yee, before walking out of sight.

Zafirul punched the victim and knocked him down, while Ilhan held his legs down.

Yee attempted to snatch the victim's clutch, which contained about S$32,000 in cash.

However, the victim managed to break free.

Meanwhile, Peh called a private hire vehicle and fled.

The hearing for Peh's sentencing has been adjourned to Aug. 20, 2025.

Victim's account

The victim, who wishes to be identified only as ZX, previously spoke to Mothership about his ordeal.

ZX said he first got in touch with the seller via Telegram on Aug. 28.

The seller had responded to ZX's message about his interest in buying Tether, a cryptocurrency stablecoin also referred to as USDT.

Although ZX had never dealt with the seller before, he shared that he decided to go ahead with the trade because he needed Tether, and the seller was the only one who reached out to him.

ZX explained to Mothership that he chose to trade cryptocurrency offline as it was cheaper: "It's not reasonable to lose out on the fees and everything with my trading frequency."

He explained that fees came up to 1 to 2 per cent of the total price for each buying or selling trade.

The deal was for the seller to send USDT to ZX's crypto wallet in the exchange that he is using once he handed over the cash in person.

Top images via ZX