Man jailed for cheating $300,000 out of friend’s mum, sis

Under the guise of friendship, a man cheated a mother-and-daughter pair out of more than $300,000 over three years.

The man, who acted as their insurance agent, spent it on online gambling and on himself.

On March 13, Tan Wei Chong, 36, was sentenced to two years and six months’ jail after pleading guilty to two charges of criminal breach of trust, one charge of cheating and one charge of forgery.

Five other charges involving $39,820 were taken into consideration.

The victims were his friend’s mother and sister, known as the first and second victim in court.

The friend had introduced Tan, who was working as a financial consultant at The Great Eastern Life Assurance Company at the time, to his family to act as their family insurance agent.

A search on the General Insurance Association of Singapore’s registry shows he is no longer registered as an agent.

On Sept 22, 2017, Tan met his friend’s mother to sell a policy. After some discussion, the 71-year-old agreed to invest a sum of $100,000.

She asked the second victim, her daughter, to help her issue a cheque of $100,000. Her daughter, 38, left the payee’s name unwritten according to Tan’s instructions.

Upon receiving the cheque, Tan wrote his father’s company as the payee and deposited the cheque.

Tan had the Internet banking credentials and token for the company’s bank account as he was assisting his father with the finances of the company.

The prosecution said Tan’s father was unaware of his son’s activities.

Tan then transferred the $100,000 in multiple smaller transactions to his own bank account.

On Oct 16, 2019, Tan called his friend’s mother again with a new proposal for another insurance policy.

The court heard that Tan had fabricated the policy, which was never offered by Great Eastern.

The mother instructed her daughter to issue another cheque for $120,000 to Tan. Again, he instructed them to leave the payee’s name unwritten.

He deposited the cheque into his father’s company’s account on the same day.

On Oct 17, Tan called the first victim again, saying he had difficulties meeting his sales target for the month, and asked if she could invest an additional $30,000 into a non-existent insurance policy.

She agreed and instructed her daughter to issue a cheque for $30,000 with the payee’s name unwritten.

He then withdrew the entire $150,000 without his father’s knowledge, and spent the money on himself.

On Sept 9, 2020, the first victim called Tan to inform that she had not received any payout from Great Eastern even though her policy should have matured.

Tan told her there were delays in processing payment, and later forged a letter from Great Eastern to back up his lie.

In March 2020, Tan called his friend’s mother again to say he had difficulties hitting his sales target.

She agreed to help him by purchasing a single-premium policy for $20,000. He then instructed her to transfer the money to his personal bank account.

The prosecution said Tan had no intention of buying any policies for the first victim, and had wanted to spend the money on himself.

The fraud came to light after a compliance officer at Great Eastern received information that Tan had sold a fictitious policy to the first victim.

The officer then lodged a police report. Great Eastern has since reimbursed the victims.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Cheng You Duen said Tan had not come up with a single cent to pay back the victims. Instead, Great Eastern took on the losses sustained as a result of his actions.