Man, 56, jailed for using fake PayNow screenshots to buy Viagra & paying bills with bounced cheques

A 56-year-old Singaporean man, Ho Kien Mun, was sentenced to 11 weeks’ jail on Sep. 25 after admitting to multiple offences.

These offences included doctoring payment evidence, such as editing a PayNow screenshot to buy Viagra pills from a clinic, and issuing cheques that the man knew would bounce to pay over S$26,000 in phone bills.

The accused pleaded guilty to 11 charges of cheating, with a further 19 charges taken into account for sentencing.

Among the charges were instances where he would cheat petrol stations by claiming he had forgotten his wallet and would pay later for the petrol he had purchased.

Paying phone bills with bounced cheques

According to court documents seen by Mothership, Ho once operated a company called SLT Peripherals & Services between 2009 and 2011.

He still kept a chequebook for the company’s corporate account even though it has now become defunct and its bank accounts were closed.

Beginning in early 2018, Ho began racking up large bills with Singtel by making calls abroad via “1900” chatlines.

1900 is the prefix for premium-based telephone services. They are often used for adult entertainment, conversations or casual dating.

Ho admitted that he made calls four to five times a week, with each call lasting around 30 minutes to an hour.

Singtel informed him that they would terminate his phone service line as he was unable to pay his bills.

In order to delay this and buy himself more time to acquire the funds needed, Ho used an old chequebook from his now-defunct company to issue a cheque for the billed amount.

He would then send the cheque to Singtel via Singpost, and asked for a receipt for the cheque.

With the receipt, he would show it to a Singtel staff member as proof that he had paid his bills.

In this manner, he would get Singtel to reinstate his phone service.

Despite knowing that Singtel would not receive payment as the bank accounts were defunct, he still issued 10 cheques totalling S$26,123.38 between February 2018 and September 2019.

While the cheques continued to bounce, Ho would make partial legitimate payments through other means, such as NETS.

Ultimately, between the accused’s delayed partial payments and a deposit provided by him, Singtel recovered the cost of the phone services provided to Ho.

Using altered PayNow screenshots to buy Viagra

On Sep. 25 2023 at about 2:51pm, Ho visited The Bishan Family Doctors to purchase Viagra pills worth S$91.

As Ho was going through financial troubles, he did not want to pay for the medication.

Instead, he used an image-editing programme to edit a screenshot of a successful PayNow transfer to make it seem like he had made the payment for the Viagra.

The clinic, believing the doctored screenshot, provided him with the medication.

Arrest

When multiple investigation officers attempted to record a statement from him, Ho remained uncontactable.

A police gazette was issued for his arrest.

Ho was arrested on Jun. 24, 2024 and released on bail on Jun. 25.

The prosecutor sought an imprisonment term of 11 to 15 weeks for Ho, stating that he had a clear pattern of offending.

According to CNA, his defence lawyer sought a deferment of the jail term as Ho needed to find a caregiver for his elderly father.

He also has to make arrangements with his ex-wife to take his daughter to a medical appointment.

The judge granted his request.

Top images via Pixabay, The Association of Banks in Singapore