Man jailed for pretending to be female escorts to cheat victims
Using names like Fatin and Linda, he posed as a social escort online, luring men to transfer money for sexual services before the arranged meet-up.
Gopinathan Vithilingam, 31, then blocked the men after getting the money.
Yesterday, he was jailed for four months after pleading guilty to three charges of cheating.
Gopinathan had advertised escort services on a classifieds website, using photos he had taken from social media.
The victims would contact him for sex, and he would tell them to transfer money to him and provide them a location to meet. But after the men transferred the money, he blocked their numbers.
He cheated two men on Sept 23 and Oct 19 last year.
He was caught and released on bail, but cheated another man on June 20.
Gopinathan cheated the three men of about $500 in total.
He said yesterday he could not remember how many victims he had cheated from September last year to February this year.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Joshua Lim urged the court to jail him for four months and a week, noting that Gopinathan had committed an offence while out on bail.
He added Gopinathan was jailed for two months last year, after being convicted of seven charges of cheating using the same modus operandi, but re-offended almost immediately after being released.
Gopinathan has not made any restitution.
For each charge of cheating, he could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined.- DAVID SUN
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