Scammer fakes own death, cheats aunt of nearly $114,000
A scammer faked her death and pretended to be two lawyers to dupe her 61-year-old aunt into transferring cash totalling nearly $114,000 to her.
The aunt, who was then working as a clerk, stopped only after she realised she had no more money to make the transfers.
Dionne-Edna Lin Lilian, 39, who has made no restitution, was sentenced to a year and eight months’ jail on Oct 15.
She had pleaded guilty to one count each of cheating and pretending to be a lawyer – an offence under the Legal Profession Act.
Lin had posed as her father, who is the aunt’s brother-in-law, and contacted the victim in January 2019, claiming that Lin had died.
She then pretended to be a lawyer called “Daslin Ang”, reached out to the older woman and lied that Lin had left behind a sum of money as a so-called inheritance.
Posing as the lawyer, Lin told her aunt she has to pay some “processing fees” to receive the money.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Eugene Phua said the aunt had initially refused to transfer the money, as she did not want to deposit cash into unknown bank accounts.
Lin then told her aunt she could transfer the cash to an account belonging to Lin’s father.
DPP Phua added: “The victim agreed, as the accused had deceived her into believing that (the father) was also one of the beneficiaries from the accused’s will and would take the lead to facilitate the distribution of the inheritance.”
The victim, who was unaware that Lin was controlling her father’s bank account, then transferred cash into it.
Between May and June 2019, Lin pretended to be another lawyer called “Phil Tong”, who would take over Daslin’s duty.
Posing as “Phil Tong”, Lin said that Daslin had been suspended for two weeks for purportedly being negligent in handling a client’s funds.
Lin continued to ask for more cash and her aunt complied.
The older woman transferred nearly $114,000 in total over 29 occasions from Jan 31 to June 4, 2019.
Court documents did not disclose how the offences came to light, but the aunt lodged a police report on June 28 that year.
DPP Phua asked the court to sentence Lin to up to a year and 10 months’ jail, stressing that the offender had drained her aunt of her savings.
He said: “The accused’s lies were sophisticated as they involved her personating as a lawyer to guide her aunt through a complex probate matter, using different phones... The accused concocted lies after lies in order to induce her aunt to transfer her the money.”
Lin’s bail was set at $16,000 on Oct 15 and she is expected to begin serving her sentence on Oct 25.
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