Man jailed and fined for scamming woman, making false rape claims

He spun a web of lies to induce victims to sign up for mobile lines so he could sell the phones for quick cash or buy game credits.

He also used their personal details to rent cars, which he drove without a licence.

Between 2017 and 2020, Jerald Low Jing Yong, 27, cheated eight victims, some of whom were men he was dating, of over $150,000.

The Singaporean even filed a notice of marriage with one victim, a 35-year-old woman with bipolar disorder, to perpetuate his ruse.

Low was on Wednesday (March 16) sentenced to five years and seven months' jail, and fined $1,800. He is also disqualified from driving for a year after his release from prison.

He pleaded guilty to 16 charges including cheating and driving without a licence. Another 35 similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

The court heard that Low had set up a shell company called Fitness Tea Singapore and advertised job openings online.

In October 2018, the 35-year-old woman, surnamed Tai, expressed interest and was hired after an interview. Her responsibilities included posting job openings online and interviewing applicants.

Just a day after she had been hired, Low told Tai to sign up for two mobile contracts that she could use to contact applicants.

He lied that he would be paying for the phone lines and used them instead for the purchase of game credits on iTunes.

On the same day, Low filed a notice of marriage with Tai. It is not clear how long the two had known each other before registering their marriage.

An Institute of Mental Health report found that Tai had been suffering from a relapse of bipolar disorder at the time and experienced delusions of being in love.

A day later, Tai entered into contracts for three more mobile lines under Low's instructions.

The bills for the five lines came up to around $6,400, which Low never paid.

The court also heard that Low met another victim, a 24-year-old man who went by Kenneth, through an online forum in December 2018.

When they were dating, Low lied to Kenneth about his father working in the oil and gas industry in Korea, and boasted about having millions of dollars in his bank account.

He then told Kenneth to sign up for mobile lines on his behalf as he had reached the limit for doing so. Low obtained six mobile phones as a result and made $6,910 from selling them.

In May 2018, Low got into an accident with Mr Yap Beng Chai, 42, and the two exchanged particulars.

The accused had a picture of Mr Yap's NRIC and driving licence, which he used to register for an account with Tribecar, a car rental service.

He rented vehicles on 18 occasions, during which he beat the red light and damaged one of the cars.

Mr Yap lodged a police report when he received receipt of the summon and accident claims from lawyers.

Low also admitted to forging his mother's signature on a UOB cheque for $1 trillion, which he issued to his bank accounts in April 2018.

The cheque was not processed as his bank conducted checks on it due to its abnormally large amount.

To boast to his friends that he could afford expensive property, Low issued cheques for the option fees of at least seven properties, despite knowing that he did not have enough funds to honour the payments.

When Low knew he was being investigated by the police in September 2020, he convinced a 22-year-old man he had met on a dating site, Desmond Poon Jun Yee, to lie to police officers and take the blame for all his offences.

He filed a false police report claiming that he had committed the offences on Poon's instructions since 2018. He also claimed that Poon had raped him more than 15 times.

Poon lied repeatedly to the police and only came clean in his final video interview in April last year where he revealed that he did not rape or threaten Low. Poon has been charged with obstructing justice and his case is pending.

Low also forged a medical certificate to excuse himself from going to court to plead guilty on Jan 21 this year, as he was afraid he would have to start serving his jail sentence that day.

For each count of cheating, Low could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined.

For each count of driving without a licence, he could have been fined up to $1,000 and jailed for up to three months.