An Indonesian woman, who began by selling Taylor Swift concert tickets, went on to cheat victims of more than S$1.9 million.

In total, she was given 39 charges, according to court documents.

Nila Anggraini Citra Sejati, 32, was sentenced to 8.5 years on cheating charges, among others.

She faced 11 charges with 28 charges taken into consideration during sentencing.

Concert tickets and holidays

The offences began in 2023.

She used her travel booking businesses, Argo Sejati Corporation and Paul Sejati Corporation, to run her scheme.

There were two types of scams: An e-commerce scam, where victims thought they were making real purchases, and a second scam where victims invested in her company hoping for returns with promises to nearly double their money.

She essentially ran a Ponzi scheme, where she used money from later investors to pay earlier ones, and also enriched herself by paying off debt and buying luxury goods.

Nila told victims she could get them flight tickets, hotel bookings and cruise tickets at preferential rates, and that she had Taylor Swift concert tickets for sale.

Victims transferred money to her bank accounts thinking they were paying for actual travel arrangements or tickets.

To make the ticket sales look legitimate, she sent victims forged emails made to appear as though they had come from Ticketmaster.

In one case, a forged screenshot of a Ticketmaster email was sent instead.

She would also make genuine bookings, but make partial payment, leading to cancellations.

The victim who suffered the most losses in this phase lost S$80,285 across 21 occasions between September and October 2023, after being led to believe Nila could arrange discounted flights, cruise tickets and hotel bookings.

Another lost S$21,744 across 12 occasions between August and October 2023 over flight tickets and hotel bookings.

Investment scheme

In 2024, Nila began telling victims she could obtain discounted flight tickets through legitimate commercial arrangements, and that they could earn returns by putting money into her operation.

In one case, luxury bags were added to the offer.

The amounts cheated became far larger.

One victim transferred S$606,800 across 17 occasions between May and October 2024.

Another victim transferred S$344,855 across two occasions in August 2024, believing he would see returns from investing in her discounted flights and luxury bags business model.

Separately, she dishonestly misappropriated S$25,500 that had been entrusted to her.

Most of the victims did not receive restitution.

Her victims included friends and their partners, ordinary travel customers, concertgoers, as well as men she dated.

One of the victims incurred debts that could not be paid off even after liquidating assets and working for more than one-and-a-half decades.

One year after the sudden passing of her beloved only son, a mother in Singapore was surprised to receive a call from the National Organ Transplant Unit.

They wanted to send some tokens of appreciation on behalf of the recipients of her son's organ donation, Queenie Tan told Mothership on Aug. 14.

Her son, 27-year-old Nathaniel Zachariah Tan, passed away on Aug. 12, 2025, from a rare brain condition.

In a final act of selflessness, he donated his kidneys, liver and iliac arteries.

A call one year on

The call from the National Organ Transplant Unit came as a pleasant surprise for Tan, who said the past year had been a difficult period of grief for her.

"I thought they were so kind and so good to want to send their appreciation," she told Mothership.

Tan said the organisation reached out about a week before the anniversary of Nathaniel's passing.

Among the gifts was a thank-you note, which specified the patients who were saved by Nathaniel's donation.

Nathaniel's liver went to a 64-year-old man who was diagnosed with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Meanwhile, each of his kidneys went to a 52-year-old woman and a 35-year-old woman, who were both diagnosed with chronic glomerulonephritis.

Additionally, his donated iliac vessels are stored in the bank and are said to help liver patients during their surgeries.

The recipients can now spend more quality time with their loved ones because of Nathaniel's donation, the organisation wrote.

They also sent Tan a medallion, a jar of origami stars folded by secondary school students across Singapore, and a certificate of appreciation to honour Nathaniel's selfless act.

Tokens of appreciation

Tan shared that this was her first time hearing about those who benefited from her son's donation.

"At that time, I did think about who would end up getting his organs, but after that, I think there is no need to think and worry because he is definitely saving lives. Someone will have a second chance, but we just did not know who it was," she said.

Reading the note and learning more about the impact her son made led her to realise that "a part of him still lives on", she said.

"I was surprised that one year later, there were still people thinking of him," she shared.

After receiving the tokens, Tan headed down to Nathaniel's final resting place at Woodlands Memorial on Aug. 10 to leave them there.

She also took out 27 stars from the jar to signify his age at the time of his passing.

A year of grief and counting

On Nathaniel's decision to donate his organs, Tan said it was a wish that his fiancée, Cheryl Lim, had relayed to her.

It did not come as a surprise to Tan, as she knew her son was a good-natured, loving man who always helped those in need.

A year on, Tan still sees her son everywhere she goes.

She would be reminded of Nathaniel whenever she saw students wearing his alma mater's uniform or took part in church activities.

She felt his absence during family dinners though.

The letter and tokens of appreciation from those who carried a part of Nathaniel were a timely reminder of the impact he had made.

"The next thing I have to do is to live every day meaningfully, until the day I meet him," she said.

A 23-year-old American man apparently “raided” alleged scam call centres in India.

He was accompanied by people dressed as “SpongeBob SquarePants” and “Tung Tung Tung Sahur”, an AI brainrot character.

SpongeBob SquarePants

In an Instagram video, Justin Ho, a content creator, documented and led the raid in Delhi, India.

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Justin Ho (@iamjustinho)

The video has 4.6 million views as of writing.

People appeared as “SpongeBob SquarePants” mascots and were seen crowding around and dancing at the alleged call centre.

People in the office were seen recording the moment as it unfolded.

The SpongeBob mascots also appeared to be dry humping the alleged employees and Ho at one point.

Security guards attempted to remove the mascots from the office and were seen using a stick to beat the SpongeBob mascots.

However, they appeared to be overwhelmed and the cushion in the costumes absorbed the physical assaults.

According to Hindustan Times, Ho said the raid occurred on Aug. 7.

He also claimed that he “got information from inside sources” that the premises was used as a scam call centre.

“Everyone was scared when we first showed up. Then they started laughing,” he said.

Ho has since left India and is currently in Thailand.

Tung Tung Tung Sahur

In another Instagram video, Ho was seen leading and documenting a raid on another alleged scam call centre in India, with people dressed as "Tung Tung Tung Sahur".

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Justin Ho (@iamjustinho)

The video has 296,000 views as of writing.

The mascots were armed with sticks.

The alleged scam centre employees appeared to be amused by the antics and even recorded the incident.

At one point, Ho took out a packet of curry rice, and the group remained rowdy in the office.

The video ended with the mascots rushing out of the office given that “the police is coming”.

Members of the Law Society Council should be given access to the relevant reports prepared by its Audit Committee (AC) so they can have a "frank and constructive exchange" with the organisation's council, said Minister for Law Edwin Tong on Aug. 14.

Allows members to form their own views on the issues

In a statement to the media, Tong said the reports, with appropriate redactions to protect interviewees, should be made available to members so they can form their own views on the issues raised.

His comments come a day after the Law Society (LawSoc) convened a closed-door dialogue with members to discuss the findings of an internal audit and the council's proposed response.

"The AC report raises significant issues concerning workplace culture, as well as the proper administration and functioning of the Law Society from 2022 to 2025," Tong said. "These are matters which should be taken seriously and addressed thoroughly."

He added that meaningful discussions between the council and members must be supported by disclosure of sufficient information.

"It is therefore important for members to have a frank and constructive exchange with the Council, and this has to be supported by the disclosure of sufficient information for the issues to be properly understood and considered," he said.

Tong also stressed the LawSoc's role in Singapore's legal system, saying it has responsibilities to both its members and the wider public.

"It is therefore important that the issues identified in the report are followed through appropriately, with transparency and accountability, and that the necessary steps be taken to strengthen Law Society's governance and functioning."

"This will help maintain confidence in the Law Society as an institution," he said.

Tong further added that the ministry will continue to monitor developments, and will look forward to further updates from the council on the steps being taken to address the issues identified in the report.

Investigation launched after anonymous allegations

The LawSoc's audit committee began investigations after the Ministry of Law (MinLaw) and the Ministry of Manpower received an anonymous email in September 2025 making allegations against certain people and practices within the association.

This email was raised by Tong on Aug. 5, in reply to a Parliamentary question about the allegations.

He called the claims "serious and wide-ranging" as they concerned inappropriate workplace conduct, weaknesses in governance and oversight, deficiencies in grievance handling and whistleblowing processes, and shortcomings in internal controls over certain administrative and financial practices.

These matters occurred from 2022 to 2025.

The audit did not find evidence of deliberate financial impropriety or an intentional cover-up, Tong said, but it identified significant failings in leadership, workplace culture, and governance.

He added that the audit committee would invite members to a closed-door meeting in August to further discuss the findings.

According to The Straits Times, the report was not released to members, but was submitted to the LawSoc council, which is the governing and management body of the organisation.

Members call for greater transparency

The closed-door meeting between about 200 members of LawSoc on Aug. 13 reportedly grew tense as they discussed the internal probe into allegations of poor workplace culture and bullying.

Hard copies of the report outlining the findings and recommendations were given out to the members at the dialogue, but they had to be returned at the end of the session, attendees told CNA.

These copies apparently did not contain the complete report.

Several annexes, including further investigation reports prepared by a law firm and an auditing firm, were omitted.

The limited disclosure prompted several members to raise issues of transparency and call for the full report to be released to them.

Some said they would demand an extraordinary general meeting if this request was not met, ST reported.

Attendees told ST that members also questioned why no disciplinary action had reportedly been taken against a former senior employee over allegations of inappropriate conduct.

Petition calling for full disclosure

Prior to the meeting, on Aug. 7, a petition was submitted to LawSoc calling on the association to release the findings to members.

"It bears emphasising that these allegations reported have been by far the most serious the society has faced in its entire history... It will be unfair to members of the society that they be denied the opportunity to read the full investigation report and its recommendations," the petition read, as quoted by ST.

Lawyers weigh in after dialogue

Following the meeting, some lawyers publicly called for greater transparency.

Remy Choo, co-founder and joint managing director of RCLT Law Corporation, said in a LinkedIn post that the dialogue showed there was "much more common ground" within the LawSoc than headlines suggested.

He said members broadly agreed on three things:

1. That members deserve more information rather than less;
2. That fairness to all parties involved requires full context; and
3. That any disclosure of information should safeguard the confidentiality of interviewees and be made with appropriate consent.

Choo said that while producing a full account would take time, the shared principles should be their "guiding light in charting a way forward".

Lawyer Clarence Lun of Fervent Chambers also argued that releasing the full report was necessary for accountability.

"Allowing members to read the Audit Committee report is a step towards transparency," he wrote on LinkedIn.

"But if that report was itself informed by more extensive underlying investigation reports and materials, members should, subject to legitimate confidentiality and personal-data safeguards, be permitted to understand and review that material for their own analysis and determination."

"Accountability must be principled, consistent and even-handed," Lun added.

The Court of Appeal will be reserving its judgement after a 30-year-old former Wah!Banana actor appealed against his jail sentence for raping a woman.

The Straits Times reported the Court of Appeal as saying that more time was required to look over the evidence.

An earlier report mentioned that Lev Panfilov, then 29, was sentenced to 11 years and six months in jail, as well as 12 strokes of the cane on May 19, 2025.

He had been convicted of raping, sexually assaulting and molesting a woman he met on Tinder, and committed the offences in his flat on Jan. 12, 2021.

Defence urged acquittal

In that regard, the defence urged the Court of Appeal to acquit the Russian national and Singapore permanent resident Panfilov of all four charges involving rape, sexual assault, and molestation.

According to a Facebook post by Eugene Thuraisingam, Panfilov has been serving an 11-and-a-half-year sentence, with 12 strokes of the cane yet to be carried out.

CNA reported that the defence argued that the alleged victim's account had material inconsistencies and that evidence she presented had allegedly been fabricated.

Johannes Hadi, who argued the case alongside Eugene Thuraisingam, had pointed to an inconsistency in the woman's account of whether she screamed during the assault.

According to CNA, since the case had no witnesses, the key issue was whether the sexual encounter was consensual, as maintained by Panfilov, or not, as the woman alleged.

The complainant's evidence had to be "unusually convincing" to convict in such a situation.

It was a legal standard that Justice Pang Khang Chau had previously found satisfied, which resulted in his conviction of Panfilov.

However, CNA reported that Panfilov's latest set of lawyers argued on Aug. 13 that the standard had not been met.

Screaming

According to the Facebook post, Hadi noted an inconsistency in the woman's account of whether she screamed during the assault.

She had told a doctor, in verbatim contemporaneous notes, that she screamed during the assault.

The woman added that Panfilov had then choked her with his hands and pressed a pillow on her head to stop her screaming.

But she testified at trial that she had wanted to scream but did not, and a flatmate who was home that night said he heard no commotion.

ST reported that the court had accepted that during the incident, there had been at least one other person, Panfilov's flatmate, in the house.

"On this point, there is a discrepancy between what she said to the doctor and what she said in court," the judges said.

"If the contention is that she did scream, it then runs into a problem with the fact that there were at least one or two witnesses in the flat at the time.”

Whether the woman had told the doctor if she screamed came into play as when the case went to trial, the woman said she meant she had wanted to scream, ST reported.

The doctor had also reportedly made a mistake and misunderstood her, resulting in her accounts being inconsistent, the woman said.

The court said: “If she had screamed, others would have presumably heard it. There is certainly a doubt of whether the evidence changed because of the significance of surrounding evidence.”

To that, ST reported the prosecution as saying they accepted that the doctor's notes were, in all likelihood, accurate.

"We can’t go beyond the evidence. Our submission is simply the victim may have misspoke. Our position was that there was a misunderstanding."

Bloodied underwear

According to CNA, Hadi also argued that woman had initially told police there was no evidence of rape, before later producing a pair of bloodied underwear retrieved from a laundry hamper.

The defence argued the blood was consistent with her period, which began two days after the alleged assault, rather than an injury,

It was a distinction the Health Sciences Authority said could possibily have been tested by external parties, but was not, the Facebook post stated.

Hadi also said the woman cried at home after the rape upon seeing blood in her underwear while taking it off.

Though she explored making a police report a few days later, she decided not to in fear of not being believed since there was no evidence of the assault, she told the officer.

"This is very peculiar, for someone to go to the police and say they are worried they wouldn’t be believed as there was no evidence... knowing there was a pair of bloodied panties at home," the post stated Hadi as saying.

Memo

ST reported Hadi as arguing the woman visited a doctor around four days after the assault to ask for a memo to state she had suffered vaginal injuries and had been raped.

When the doctor rejected her request, given she would first have to make a police report, the woman asked the doctor to cancel any records of her visit.

"This is not a minor detail," said Hadi.

"Asking for a memo was the predominant reason for her visit to the doctor. The doctor's evidence was that when she declined to provide the memo, (the woman) did not even accept any medication for her pain."

Text messages

Chief Justice Menon said that he was troubled by the pair's exchange of text messages following the incident, as well as the Panfilov appearing to be content for the woman to leave.

"I mean, if what had just happened was a violent rape, one would've thought there'd be concerns, if the person who had apparently tried twice to flee, whether that person would go to the police," he added.

CNA reported the woman's evidence as Panfilov texting her after she left his flat, where he asked how everything was and whether she had arrived home safely.

To that, she responded positively.

CCTV footage

The judges also raised the CCTV footage of the pair in the lift lobby of Panfilov's apartment, ST reported.

She had been seen almost without a hair out of place, they said.

This was in the context of the woman saying in her statement that she was suffering from a 10-out-of-10 pain from the assault and that Panfilov had manhandled her.

CNA reported that the defence, did not push that point any further based on concerns of stereotyping how victims of sexual assault react.

However, the Chief Justice intervened.

Lawyers are advised not to make arguments that amount to victim-blaming or questioning why victims may react a certain way, given that trauma responses can vary widely. But Chief Justice Menon said this did not apply in this case.

Instead, analysing the CCTV footage was a matter of considering the physical evidence, which was relevant to the case.

The woman had said her hair was "manhandled" during the assault, but this did not appear to be the case in the footage, CNA reported.

ST reported the court as saying: "My point is if you’ve been through that and you’re not disheveled, one would expect an explanation. But if there's no explanation, then it is inconsistent with the account of what had happened."

The prosecution responded that the woman had explained her hair was not easily messed up due to its nature and texture.

She added being able to walk without difficulty after the assault and had tried to manage her pain internally.

A teenage boy, 15, on trial for the murder of a 16-year-old girl at his school in Malaysia has expressed remorse in court, after the High Court ruled there was a prima facie case against him.

He was 14 when he allegedly committed the murder.

The High Court made the ruling, according to China Press, moving the case into the defence stage.

The six-day prosecution stage of the trial began on Aug. 3 and concluded on Aug. 11.

Testified standing beside the dock

The boy's lawyer, Kitson Foong, said that because his client is a minor, he did not sit in the dock, but stood beside it and gave his testimony unsworn.

According to Malaysia media, the lawyer said: "He also said he was sorry for what happened and for the consequences, including the death. After that, we went straight into the opening statement."

The boy is set to testify.

He was deemed fit to stand trial following a three-month psychiatric assessment.

Defence to argue mental state

The defence will also call on a doctor at a psychiatric hospital in Perak, as well as a forensic psychiatry consultant, to support a defence for insanity.

The magistrate's court had earlier referred the boy to the psychiatric hospital, the defence lawyer said.

He added that the doctor had submitted a written report, which the court has accepted as evidence, and that the proceedings focused on explaining its contents and the psychiatric concepts involved.

The murder charge carries the death penalty, or jail of not less than 30 years and not more than 40 years, and 12 strokes of the rotan upon conviction.

However, the death sentence cannot be imposed on an individual who was a child at the time of the offence, New Straits Times reported.

Background

A 14-year-old male student allegedly stabbed and killed a 16-year-old female schoolmate, Yap Shing Xuen, in a secondary school toilet in Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, on Oct. 14, 2025.

The suspect, who faced a murder charge, was later ruled fit to stand trial following psychiatric evaluations and pleaded not guilty in February 2026.

The government is looking to retain more greenery at Gillman Barracks and Sunset Way (Maju Forest) sites following further public feedback and consultation with nature groups, Minister of State for National Development Alvin Tan told the media on Aug. 14.

Adjustments to be made to the current plans for both sites

He explained that at Gillman Barracks, the current plan will set aside green spaces that's equivalent to 40 per cent of the site. These include native-dominated secondary forests, the entire forest stream and ecological connections to other nature sites.

As for Maju Forest, the current plan is to retain 35 per cent of the forested areas, including important features like the native-dominated secondary forest, a natural freshwater stream and the former Jurong Railway Line.

"But the current plan was never final," Tan said before sharing about the feedback the ministry received thus far.

For both sites, nature groups have emphasised the importance of maintaining a wide central green corridor, as it will allow a more contiguous vegetated area for animals to forage, Tan said.

"The residents and the general public too have asked us to retain more green," he added.

He committed that the government will take these suggestions into consideration as they make adjustments to the current plans.

"We will work out exactly how much more [greenery], but we will have to accept that this means we can build fewer homes on both sites for fellow Singaporeans."

He assured that the government welcomes and has still been receiving feedback, and aims to finalise the plan over the following month or so.

Suggestions from the Nature Society's president

Speaking to media at the same doorstop, President of the Nature Society Singapore Leong Kwok Peng said that his personal preference was to not touch Maju Forest.

If there's a need to develop, Leong urged the ministry to "do a bit more in terms of planning" to ensure sufficient vegetated connectivity and not split the forest into "two separate entities".

"With a bigger forest, then you have a more substantial habitat, " Leong added.

The Nature Society has provided their feedback through closed-door meetings, including a one-on-one meeting with MND.

Leong suggested that a possible balance to the land allocation can be two-thirds of forested area and one-third of developed area.

Background

Since the Housing and Development Board (HDB) announced housing plans at Gillman Barracks and Maju Forest on Jul. 10, debate has grown over whether the projects would come at the expense of natural spaces and wildlife habitats.

Previously on Aug. 6, Tan said in Parliament that the government will proceed with the redevelopment of the two sites, but detailed plans have not been finalised.

Several Members of Parliament have also spoken up on this issue.

Related stories

A 14-year-old boy in Singapore, who committed sexual offences against five underage girls over three years, pleaded guilty to 13 charges involving sexual assault of a minor, drugs, theft, and underage driving.

The boy, now 18, originally faced a total of 37 charges, Shin Min Daily News reported.

He entered his guilty plea on Aug. 11.

The remaining charges will be taken into consideration during sentencing.

There is a gag order placed on the identities of the victims, as well as the boy, as he was under the age of 18 at the time of the offences.

Five victims

According to Shin Min, the boy committed offences against five underage girls over the course of three years.

One of them reportedly even moved in to live with him while he was out on bail for another case.

In the first case, the boy reportedly took advantage of the 14-year-old victim's intoxicated state at a party held in his house, took her into a sauna, and sexually assaulted her.

The second victim, 13, met the boy, then 15, through an online game, and they started a relationship in August 2023.

They reportedly had sexual relations three times.

In March 2024, the boy met the third victim, 15, through a friend and had sexual relations with her in her room a week later.

In the fourth case, the then 16-year-old boy verbally assaulted the victim for three days in July 2024, Shin Min reported.

He was later arrested on Jul. 8, 2024, and the police found 79 pornographic videos and 30 obscene photos on his mobile phone.

He was released on bail the following day.

The boy met the fifth victim, 14, in December 2024 while out on bail and began dating her in March 2025

During this period, he reportedly filmed videos of their sexual encounters secretly.

Blackmailed victim

The boy was charged in court in April 2025, with bail conditions including wearing an electronic monitoring device and a curfew.

During this time, the fifth victim moved into his home and lived with him.

The two broke up in November 2025, and he later threatened to distribute intimate videos of her to get her to pay back money.

He was arrested again on Dec. 29, 2025, and police found four more pornographic videos on his computer.

The judge ordered the prosecution to submit a reformative training report, and the case was adjourned to Sep. 1 for sentencing.

A 20-year-old Singaporean man was convicted of extorting a 22-year-old man by threatening to report him to the police for seeking sexual intercourse with a minor.

Koh Anthony Jae Duran pleaded guilty to one count of extortion and another count of cheating on Aug. 6.

He had pretended to be the minor.

Revalation

In court documents seen by Mothership, in October 2025, Koh was chatting with a female friend, identified as Ryane.

He learned that a 22-year-old man was flirting with her via Instagram.

Due to the man's incessant messaging, Koh and the female friend decided to do more.

They found out that the man was 21 years old at the time and that he had lied to Ryane that he was 17 years old, and that he had a supposed history of dating girls younger than him.

Catfish

Intending to ridicule the man, the pair devised a plan to "catfish" him.

They drew inspiration from Instagram reels they had watched.

Koh would pose as a 14-year-old girl who wanted to date and have sex with older men, while Ryane would pose as a matchmaker who would introduce the fake child to the man through an Instagram group chat.

The man and the fake minor would then engage in flirtatious exchanges.

The fake minor and the man then agreed to meet at Stevens MRT station on the evening of Oct. 21, 2025, for a dinner date, and for the prospect of having sex thereafter.

Koh and Ryane initially intended to use this opportunity to expose the man's true identity and to ridicule him as a “paedophile” who targets younger girls.

However, Ryane was unaware that Koh intended to use this as an opportunity to extort the man.

Koh also used ChatGPT to find out about precedents of others extorting paedophiles for their wrongdoings.

Extortion

On Oct. 21, at about 9:50pm, Koh recognised the man's face from photos on Instagram and approached him.

Koh posed as the “girl’s brother” and threatened the man to take a condom out of his backpack.

Koh knew the man had a condom as he previously sent the minor a message saying he would bring one along for sex.

Koh recorded the incident and took a picture of his identity card.

He then threatened the man, saying that if he did not comply, he would notify MRT station staff and alert the police.

Both men then moved to a location in the vicinity of the Toa Payoh area by bus to continue talking.

They agreed to move to that location as the man wanted to settle their dispute somewhere more private, as Koh was being very aggressive and attracting the attention of passers-by.

Koh chose that location as it was near Toa Payoh Neighbourhood Police Centre.

Throughout their interactions, Koh threatened to take the man to the police.

The man, fearing damage to his reputation, broke down in tears and pleaded for mercy.

Koh then extorted S$20,000 as hush money from the man, proposing that it would be paid through instalments over five years at S$300 per month.

The man agreed out of fear and paid Koh S$100.

No further payments were made.

Mother

On the morning of Oct. 22, 2025, Koh was checking his WhatsApp chats when he realised the man had blocked him.

Koh was concerned the man would not pay the instalments.

He decided to extort the man’s parents, whom he perceived to have more money to pay.

To locate them, he used the photos he took of the man's identification card and found his parents at their registered residential address.

At about 8:22pm, the man's mother was at home and attended to Koh, who rang the doorbell.

Koh introduced himself as the “girl’s brother”.

He claimed that his father was angry and was ready to beat up the woman's son unless she paid S$20,000 to him.

Koh also showed the woman the video he took showing her son taking out the condom from his backpack.

He then told the man's mother she had two options to prevent further escalation.

Koh could either report the incident of the man targeting a 14-year-old girl for sex to the police or she could pay, on her son's behalf, the S$300 per month for five years as punishment.

The second option amounted to a total sum of S$18,000, and a lump sum of S$2,000, which was demanded by December 2025.

The victim's mother told Koh that she would go with the second option and passed her mobile phone number to him.

She mentioned that she would work towards paying the S$2,000 that Koh’s father demanded as she did not have the means to pay him any money at the time of the offence.

When the victim returned home later that night, his parents questioned him and he confirmed what he did.

However, they came to the conclusion that Koh was a scammer and went to the police on Oct. 23.

Guilty

Upon reflection, Koh apparently felt guilty.

On Oct. 24, 2025, he then returned the S$100 received from the victim to his mother and sent a text of apology to her.

Unbeknownst to Koh, the victim had already lodged a police report.

On Oct. 25, 2025, 6am, Koh was arrested.

He was charged on Oct. 27, 2025.

Cooperated

The prosecution urged the court to call for a reformative training suitability report.

According to Shin Min Daily News, Koh’s lawyers reportedly said he did not evade responsibility for his actions and had fully cooperated with investigations and pleaded guilty early.

His lawyers also noted that Koh is currently a student at the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) and has the support of his family.

They emphasised that even before police intervention, Koh voluntarily apologised to the victim and refunded the money, demonstrating remorse.

His lawyers urged the judge to impose a light sentence for Koh.

Koh pleaded for leniency.

The case was adjourned to Aug. 13 for a mention.

He will be sentenced on Sep. 23.

Xinmin Secondary School was evacuated on the morning of Aug. 13 after a suspected bomb threat, prompting police to conduct a search of the campus.

Normal lessons have since resumed following investigations.

All students and staff evacuated

The school, which is located in Hougang, reportedly informed parents and guardians that it activated its emergency evacuation procedures at 8:28am following the alert.

It added that all students and staff were safely evacuated and accounted for.

After police completed a thorough search of the premises and found no suspicious items, students returned to their classrooms and lessons resumed as scheduled.

Note in a classroom

Lianhe Zaobao reported that the incident stemmed from a note discovered in a classroom claiming that there was a bomb.

Several students told Zaobao that they were instructed to evacuate to the school field without initially knowing the reason.

They later learned that a teacher had found the note in a Secondary 3 classroom, prompting the school to activate its emergency response.

A school staff member said students and teachers remained at the field while awaiting further instructions, with the school providing drinks during the evacuation.

No one was allowed to re-enter the school buildings while police conducted their checks.

Those who needed to use the restroom were directed to Xinmin Primary School next door through a gate beside the field, the staff member added.

He also said police officers spoke to several students during the evacuation.

He added that he initially thought it was a routine emergency drill, but later realised the gravity of the situation after noticing six police vehicles on campus.

"I heard that the police also searched the third floor, and the police cars left about half an hour later," the staff member was quoted as saying.

Investigations ongoing

In response to Mothership's queries, the police said they were alerted to a potential bomb threat incident at Xinmin Secondary School at around 8:20am on Aug. 13.

Both the police and school personnel conducted a thorough check at the premises and no suspicious item was found.

They added that investigations into a case of communicating false information of a harmful thing under Section 268A of the Penal Code 1871 are ongoing.

The offence carries a penalty of up to seven years' imprisonment, a fine of up to S$50,000, or both.

The police said they take all security threats seriously and will not hesitate to act against those who intentionally communicate false bomb threats.

School cooperating with investigations

Speaking to Zaobao, Xinmin Secondary School principal Tan Soon Hui said the school immediately notified the police after receiving the suspected bomb threat on Thursday morning.

He said all students and teachers were evacuated to a designated assembly point and remained safe throughout the incident.

After police officers and school staff completed a search of the campus and found no suspicious items, the school arranged for students and teachers to return to class and continue lessons.

Tan added that the school is cooperating with the police in their investigations.

He said the safety and well-being of students and staff remain the school's top priority, and that it will continue to ensure appropriate measures are in place to respond to emergencies.