Over 3 years’ jail for woman who cheated pawnshops with fake gold jewellery
A group of scammers used gold-plated jewellery to dupe pawnshop employees into thinking that the items were made of solid gold.
Together, they cheated two pawnshops of $6,400 in total.
One of the scammers, Tumulak Reziana Romy, 34, was sentenced to three years, four months and two weeks jail on Tuesday.
She had pleaded guilty to two counts each of cheating and drug-related offences.
Her two accomplices - Muhammad Ashik Abdullah, 30 and Sulaiman Muhammad Firdaus, 33 - were dealt with in court earlier.
Ashik was Tumulak’s boyfriend at the time of the offences.
In June 2021, he asked her to help him pawn some fake gold items, claiming that he could not do so due to his previous cases with the police.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Yohanes Ng told the court: “Ashik would drive around with the accused on each occasion, stopping at certain locations with pawnshops.
“The accused would then witness Ashik collecting the fake gold items from Sulaiman. (After that), the accused would go with Ashik to a pawnshop to pawn the items.”
Tumulak knew that the items were not made of pure gold after hearing the two men talking to each other before committing the offences.
On July 5, 2021, Ashik drove Tumulak to a pawnshop in Bukit Batok.
He collected a fake gold bangle from Sulaiman and handed it to her. The couple then entered the pawnshop together while Sulaiman waited outside.
DPP Ng said: “The accused presented the bangle to (an employee) who conducted an acid test on the bangle by filing (it) and applying acid on the gold deposits left on the surface of the bangle.
“As the gold deposits did not change colour, they passed the test.”
The employee then passed Tumulak $3,700 for the bangle. She later passed the cash to Ashik, before receiving between $100 and $200 in return.
They committed a similar offence at a Bukit Merah pawnshop on July 6, 2021 and received $2,700 for a fake gold bangle.
Court documents did not disclose how the offences came to light, but Tumulak was arrested for drug-related offences in a hotel room on Sept 10, 2021.
Officers seized a packet of crystalline substance, which was later found to contain methamphetamine, also known as Ice.
Her urine samples were also found to contain traces of the drug.
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now
