S'pore woman, 71, jailed again for duping 12 people of $249,994, gets 66 months' jail

A 71-year-old woman in Singapore, who was previously jailed for cheating offences, was once again sentenced to jail after duping victims into handing her nearly S$250,000 to invest in beauty products.

According to The Straits Times, the woman, Neo Ngou Moy, pleaded guilty to three counts of cheating and one count of criminal breach of trust.

Another 11 charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.

Neo was ultimately sentenced to 66 months' jail.

Resold beauty products to salon staff and customers

Court documents seen by Mothership revealed that between June to November 2019, Neo frequented Neo Art Palace, a beauty salon in Whampoa.

Before the end of 2018, Neo had taken loans of at least S$70,000 from unlicensed moneylenders.

In order to repay these debts, she devised a fictitious investment scheme involving the resale of beauty products, targeting the salon's staff and customers.

She cheated 12 victims into investing a total of S$249,994.

She then used those payments she obtained to repay her loans, while some of the funds were returned to some of her victims to convince them that her investments were genuine.

One beautician paid her over S$56,000

Court documents also showed that during a manicure session, Neo told one of the salon’s beauticians about an exclusive beauty product and persuaded her to invest S$4,380, promising returns of S$7,620 within six weeks.

The beautician subsequently made several smaller investments with Neo, and received her capital, along with supposed "returns", from Neo over the next few months.

Believing the scheme to be legitimate, the beautician then introduced eight of her relatives to the purported investment scheme and encouraged them to invest as well.

In November 2019, she handed Neo a total of $56,940, comprising her own savings and those of her relatives.

When she later asked about further returns, Neo claimed she would be meeting her company’s shareholders and would bring the beautician to the firm to collect the payment after.

However, Neo failed to do so.

The beautician then searched online and discovered Neo’s past cheating offences, prompting her to lodge a police report.

Neo had cheated other victims in a similar manner. When they failed to receive their promised returns, several of them also reported her to the police.

Neo collected a total of S$249,994 from the victims — she made a total of S$93,420 in repayments to eight of them, but left about S$156,000 unpaid.

It was also revealed that Neo continued targeting new victims even while she was under investigation, using the money to buy "4D" tickets and continue to repay unlicensed moneylenders.

"Recalcitrant cheat"

Neo, who has been in remand since Aug 21, 2024, appeared in court via video-link, ST reported.

The prosecution sought a jail sentence of between 68 and 74 months, arguing that Neo required "specific deterrence" due to her repeated offending.

She was described as a "recalcitrant cheat who has been undeterred by her previous sentences of imprisonment".

In 2017, Neo was jailed for 32 months after cheating nine other people of S$285,825 in multiple investment scams, many of which also involved beauty products.

Top photos via Shin Min Daily News and Mothership