Jail for ex-insurance agent who cheated aunt of $55,000
An insurance agent cheated his aunt of $55,000 after deceiving her into believing she was investing in shares purportedly offered by Singapore investment company Temasek Holdings.
On Jan 30, Xie Huirong, 27, was sentenced to two years and four months’ jail after he used different methods to unlawfully obtain cash from her and other victims, including his then clients.
He wanted to regain his capital after losing an undisclosed sum in cryptocurrency trading.
Between 2018 and 2022, he committed cheating and other offences, including criminal breach of trust, involving more than $193,000.
Xie, who has since made more than $77,000 in restitution to his victims, pleaded guilty to offences including five counts of cheating. Eleven other charges were taken into consideration during his sentencing.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Shaun Lim said the offender was an agent representing insurance firm AXA from Aug 28, 2017, to Nov 24, 2019.
Xie’s name could not be found on the General Insurance Association’s website when The Straits Times conducted a search on Jan 30.
One of the clients he cheated was a research fellow at a local university. He sold her two policies in either late 2018 or early 2019.
Some time before June 16, 2019, Xie told her that she could enjoy better returns if she paid her yearly premiums for the next three years in advance as a lump sum.
He told her that he could make the payments for her if she handed over the money to him. She transferred $30,000 between June 16 and July 8, 2019.
The DPP said: “The accused never transferred this money to AXA, and only issued the victim with receipts after she persistently asked him for them.
“In August 2019, the accused asked to meet with the victim. He admitted that he had never transferred to AXA the money... and had instead lost it in investments.”
He has since transferred $10,000 back to her.
According to court documents, he cheated most of his other victims in 2019. His aunt was among them and some time before July 10, 2019, he told her that she could invest in shares purportedly offered by Temasek Holdings.
He claimed returns were guaranteed and she could withdraw her principal investment at any time.
Xie told her that she could receive returns of $1,000 for every $10,000 invested and showed her documents, supposedly from Temasek Holdings, to convince her to make the so-called investment.
On five different occasions between July 10 and 25 in 2019, she withdrew a total of $55,000 in cash and handed the amount to him. DPP Lim said: “He used the money... to repay his AXA clients whom he had taken money from.
“When the victim tried to withdraw the investment, the accused told her that the application had been filed but did not return her any money.”
In late 2019, AXA interviewed Xie over his offences against his clients and the police investigated the case in 2020. He returned $7,500 to his aunt soon after.
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