Man jailed for three years for role in forging multiple NRICs
He was approached by a man in 2019 and asked to create forged NRICs for $2,000 per copy.
Huang Jianwen, now 33, accepted the offer from Khor Choon Kiat, 25, and made multiple fake copies of the identity cards.
Khor was part of a group of scammers linked to a conspiracy that tried but failed to dupe a company called Ethoz Capital into providing a loan of more than $1 million.
Huang, who was not part of the group, was yesterday sentenced to three years' jail after he pleaded guilty to three counts of forgery.
Khor and his then girlfriend, Foo Wei Lee, 48, who was also part of the scam, were dealt with in court earlier.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Pei Wei said the two Singaporean men got to know each other in 2017.
Around July 2019, Khor and his accomplices were involved in a ruse to cheat Ethoz Capital.
LOAN
The plan was to impersonate the owners of a condominium unit and submit a fraudulent application to the firm to secure a loan without the owners' knowledge. The property owners, a married couple, were not part of the scam.
DPP Tan said: "To execute the scheme, forged identification documents were required. Khor asked the accused to make physical NRICs bearing the names of (the couple) and their NRIC numbers. Khor offered to pay him $2,000 for each NRIC and the accused agreed."
Huang, who was given $500 to buy materials to make the fake NRICs, then created fake copies of the couple's NRICs.
Some time between July and October 2019, Khor asked Huang to forge three NRICs bearing the particulars of three other people.
After Huang made the fake NRICs, Khor's group used one of them to collect a replacement title deed for the couple's unit from a law firm on Oct 17, 2019.
This was to complete the mortgage of the property to Ethoz Capital and obtain from it a loan of more than $1 million.
Members of the group were arrested before the monies were disbursed, the court heard.
For each count of forgery, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.
- THE STRAITS TIMES
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