Serial S'pore cheater, 34, jailed again after using fake Rolex listing on Carousell to bait victims

A 34-year-old man who cheated victims with a fake Rolex listing on Carousell, a ruse he had used before, was sentenced to 18 months and 49 days’ jail on May 12.

Foo Siang Wee pleaded guilty to three charges involving cheating, criminal breach of trust as an employee, and relinquishing his Singpass login details.

Two other charges, which involved another cheating charge and a charge involving the relinquishment of a bank account, were taken into consideration as well for sentencing.

Fake Rolex listing on Carousell

Foo’s victim, Lim, 25, first came across Foo’s Carousell account, “jf9200”, in mid-February 2025, according to court documents seen by Mothership.

Foo had listed hotel stay packages at low prices on the platform.

Lim initially paid Foo S$700 for one such hotel package via PayNow to Foo’s wife’s mobile number, but the deal did not materialise, and Foo refunded him the full amount.

Later, Lim came across Foo’s Carousell listing for a Rolex Submariner Half Gold, which Foo had advertised for S$10,000.

Lim was interested and managed to negotiate the price down to S$8,000.

However, Foo told Lim that he had to hand over the S$8,000 in cash first.

Foo claimed that the watch was being kept in a safe deposit box at a bank under his wife’s name, and that he needed to show his wife the cash before she would withdraw the watch for him.

Lim agreed and met Foo at Bukit Panjang MRT station at around 8pm on Feb. 26, 2025, after which he got Foo to sign a physical sales agreement before handing over S$8,000 in cash.

Foo then told Lim that he would get the watch from his wife and pass it to him the next day.

On Feb. 27, however, Foo told Lim that his wife had not withdrawn the watch as she had forgotten to bring her passport.

The next day, Foo continued to give Lim multiple excuses and became uncontactable soon after.

Lim also tried contacting Foo’s wife, who hung up on him and later became uncontactable as well.

Foo later gambled away the S$8,000 that Lim had paid him.

Used same Rolex ploy before

Prosecutors described Foo as a “recalcitrant offender” who had been convicted on four prior occasions for property-related offences and three prior occasions for the same offence.

They said Foo had been traced for similar offences since 2016.

In 2021, he was sentenced to 12 months’ jail each for two cheating offences involving the “same modus operandi”, where he deceived victims into believing that he was selling a Rolex Submariner for S$12,000 on Carousell.

In that case, he dishonestly induced the victims to pay him S$6,000 and S$1,000 respectively.

For the present case, prosecutors noted that the amount Foo cheated Lim of was higher, at S$8,000.

They also pointed out that Foo had another cheating charge taken into consideration, which involved the same method as the previous charge and his 2021 offences.

According to the court documents, the charge involved another victim, whom Foo allegedly deceived into believing that he was selling a Rolex Submariner Half Gold for S$10,000 on Carousell, inducing him to pay S$4,000 via PayNow.

Prosecutors said it was aggravating that Foo had gambled away the entire sum, adding that the money “could not be recovered” and had been “frittered on a frivolous pursuit” rather than used for necessities.

Stole S$29,069 from Koufu

Foo’s offences were not limited to the fake Rolex listing.

From Jan. 1 to Feb. 24, 2025, Foo was employed as a Food Court Manager at Koufu’s outlet at HDB Hub in Toa Payoh.

As part of his duties, he was entrusted with the outlet’s float money, petty cash and daily sales collected, and was responsible for ensuring that daily sales from stall tenants were accurately received and banked on time.

On Jan. 24, 2025, Foo worked from 7am to 10pm and was in charge of depositing the sales collected that day, as well as sales from the second shift of the previous day.

At about 11:18pm, after his shift ended, CCTV footage captured Foo switching off the office light, opening the safe and taking out cash.

He returned part of the cash to the safe, placed the rest in his bag, and later took a significant amount of cash from the office table before leaving.

The next day, another worker discovered that money was missing and reported it.

Checks later showed that Foo had misappropriated S$29,069, leaving S$4,157 at the branch.

When Koufu’s area manager contacted Foo on WhatsApp, Foo admitted that he had stolen more than S$20,000 and apologised.

He said he would return the money on Jan. 26, 2025, but became uncontactable thereafter.

Foo later gambled away the S$29,069 on soccer betting, and no restitution had been made to Koufu, according to the court documents.

Prosecutors said Foo’s conduct showed an “escalating pattern of behaviour of stealing from the workplace”.

Relinquished Singpass details

Foo also admitted to relinquishing his Singpass details.

On Nov. 1, 2023, he came across a Telegram advertisement promising fast cash in return for lending one’s Singpass account.

He then handed over his Singpass ID and password to an unknown person in exchange for about S$400 to S$500 without asking what the person intended to do with his Singpass account.

After receiving Foo’s details, the unknown person blocked him on Telegram, and Foo did not receive the money he had been promised.

It was later established that Foo’s Singpass details had been used to open a Standard Chartered Bank account.

There were no scam reports linked to the account as of the court documents.

Sentencing

The prosecution had sought a global sentence of 18 to 19 months’ jail, with an enhanced imprisonment term of 49 days.

Foo had been subject to a conditional remission order from Nov. 5, 2024, to Mar. 13, 2025, but committed both the cheating and criminal breach of trust offences during this period.

The court considered ordering compensation for Foo’s victims on the May 12 sentencing, reported The Straits Times, but did not do so in the end as Foo had been unemployed for some time and lacked the financial means to repay the money.

For cheating, Foo could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined.