28 months’ jail for woman who cheated victim of $145,500 in investment scam
A woman cheated a man of $145,500 after duping him into believing he was investing in a business that purportedly supplied goods to the SAF eMart.
According to the online NS Portal, it is a kit replacement system that allows servicemen to buy items such as personal equipment with their allocated credits. This can be done online or in walk-in transactions at places including eMart outlets at selected Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) camps.
The scammer, Jahabar Nachia Mohamed Abdullah, 67, was sentenced to 28 months’ jail on Wednesday for cheating Mr Kasmuri Hambali on 10 occasions from March 30, 2015, to Sept 3, 2015.
In July, Deputy Principal District Judge Luke Tan convicted her of 10 cheating charges after a trial.
Jahabar has since made restitution of $7,200, causing a total loss of $138,300.
Mr Kasmuri was the teacher-in-charge of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) at his school when he got to know Jahabar in 2000
The English language teacher had bought items from her Beach Road shops for his NCC students.
Some time before March 30, 2015, she asked him if he wanted to do some business, adding that she had been supplying military-related items to SAF eMart.
Jahabar told Mr Kasmuri she had been supplying goods to the SAF eMart for “a very long time”, and she wanted to increase her capital so she could buy more products to supply to it, DPP Foong said.
She added: “The accused was never an authorised supplier to SAF eMart, and none of the payments by Kasmuri was used to invest in a business that supplies goods to SAF eMart.”
Mr Kasmuri, who believed Jahabar’s lies, decided to invest in the business and gave her a cheque for $12,000 on March 30, 2015. In return, Jahabar promised to pay him $15,000 by June 30 that year.
He continued handing over cash and more cheques until late 2015. Jahabar issued handwritten acknowledgement slips to Mr Kasmuri, which stated the amounts of return that he could expect from this purported investment.
She also issued post-dated cheques to him, creating the impression that she was fully capable of repaying him, said the DPP.
When Jahabar failed to do so, Mr Kasmuri messaged her to ask when she could repay him, but she kept delaying. He lodged a police report on Nov 4, 2015.
The scammer, who was represented by lawyer K. Jayakumar Naidu, had claimed during her trial that the money from Mr Kasmuri were loans to help her fulfil customers’ orders at her Beach Road shop.
She had also claimed she could not repay Mr Kasmuri because three of her overseas customers had failed to pay her.
DPP Foong said: “She gave inconsistent answers and was quick to come up with excuses and embellish her testimony when confronted with inconsistencies... The accused’s (version of events) evolved over time, alternating between a loan and an investment.”
The prosecutor added that Jahabar’s contradictions made her an unreliable witness.
Mr Naidu told the court on Wednesday that his client intends to appeal against her conviction and sentence. She was then offered bail of $30,000.
For each count of cheating, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.
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