Woman, 54, scammed by fruit seller 'boyfriend' of over S$930,000, including daughter's university fees

A 57-year-old fruit seller lied about being widowed and entered a relationship with a woman in her 50s after meeting her online, according to Shin Min Daily News.

He ended up cheating her of over S$930,000, including money meant for her daughter's university fees.

The man, Kong Jun Yi Jonathan, was sentenced on Thursday (Aug. 6) to three years and seven months in jail.

The woman, 54, who declined to be named, told the Chinese media outlet in tears that she had to take out a bank loan to ensure her daughter could finish her education.

She added that the ordeal nearly cost her her relationship with her only daughter.

Met online in 2020

The woman met Kong online in October 2020. He was the first person she dated since her divorce about 20 years ago.

Kong lied that he was a chief executive at a company, and claimed his wife had fallen ill and died, leaving him with a 10-year-old son.

But he was actually a fruit vendor, and married to a woman who is still alive.

Lent him hundreds of thousands of dollars

The two were together for more than a year, during which he stayed at her home from Monday to Friday, and returned home to be with his son on weekends.

She said he borrowed money from her and her sister repeatedly, citing various reasons, such as having acted as a loan guarantor, his company needing funds, and needing money for hospitalisation.

The victim did not suspect anything was wrong, and even lent him money meant for her daughter's tuition fees.

Her sister also lent him money that had been set aside for her child's wedding banquet.

"He showed me his bank account, and there was money in it. He said it was just that the account had been frozen because he was a guarantor," she said.

Charge sheets showed that the woman had transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars to him after being deceived, over the span of mere months.

Scam exposed after discovering fake photo

The woman said that their relationship had progressed to the point of discussing marriage, with Kong even taking her gold jewellery without permission.

He'd claimed that his mother needed it to check the sizing before buying "si dian jin" (a set of four gold pieces traditionally given at Chinese weddings).

"I asked for it back many times, but could never get it," she said.

In May 2021, Kong sent his watch for repair, and she passed him her Rolex so he could get it mended too.

But after more than a year, she was unable to get the watch back, with the man constantly making excuses whenever she asked for it.

This would be what caused the man's lies to finally fall apart, she said.

The man claimed that his colleague had gotten into a car accident, and sent her a photo.

But the woman searched online and found out that the photo was fake.

"Once I confirmed I had been cheated, I made a police report immediately," she said.

The woman and her sister later checked their homes for other losses, and discovered that other pieces of gold jewellery had also been stolen.

Charge sheets showed that Kong had stolen 45 pieces of jewellery, worth over S$50,000, and sold them off at pawnshops.

The woman said:

"I spent more than S$7,000 in legal fees trying to recover the money I lost, but in the end only got back a little over S$2,000."

Unable to truly move on even after six years

After finding out she was cheated, the woman could not eat or drink properly, and struggled to sleep for two months, eventually needing to rely on sleeping pills.

She said she once contemplated suicide, but pulled through for the sake of her daughter.

The victim broke down in tears when speaking about her daughter. She revealed that after falling for the scam, she could no longer afford her daughter's tuition fees for her overseas studies.

This strained her relationship with her daughter, whose university fees came up to around six figures a year.

She eventually took out a bank loan to pay her daughter's tuition fees so that the girl could graduate and return home.

Her daughter later told her that she too had thoughts of suicide over the matter.

The woman told Shin Min that even though six years have passed since the incident, she has never truly moved on.

She has stayed strong for her daughter's sake, but no longer dares to trust in relationships.

"This taught me to be more discerning about people, and I no longer help others so readily and without a second thought," she said.

Committed theft, deception, forgery among various crimes

In total, Kong's thefts, scams, and forgeries amounted to over S$930,000 stolen in money and jewellery.

He was arrested on Jan. 22, 2026.

During his sentencing, it was reported that the victim had forgiven Kong's actions and pleaded with the judge for a lenient sentence.

Top image via Canva, Lianhe Zaobao/Shin Min Daily