Andrew Lim Zi Kai charged on Nov 3 with cheating for using a fake PayNow screenshot to buy a laptop at an IT show

[Gutted]

2020 Little India kidnap victim now accused of using fake PayNow screenshot to buy $3,599 laptop at IT show​

1/3
PHOTOS: LIANHE WANBAO, STOMP

Ong Su Mann

PublishedNov 4, 2025, 01:53pm
UpdatedNov 4, 2025, 02:15pm

Submitted by Voo


A 34-year-old man was charged on Nov 3 with cheating for using a fake PayNow screenshot to buy a laptop at an IT show.

Singaporean Andrew Lim Zi Kai had allegedly committed the offence while visiting The Tech Show 2025 at Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre on Oct 31 at about 8.30pm.

He is accused of intentionally deceiving a Mr Prince Pal Singh into believing that a payment of $3,599 was made for the purchase of a Lenovo Legion Pro 7 laptop.

The police said they were alerted to the case on Nov 1 about 12.40pm. Lim had allegedly produced an edited screenshot of a PayNow transfer and left with the laptop without making actual payment.

He was arrested within three hours.

Preliminary investigations revealed that Lim is believed to be involved in five other similar cases of cheating.

Stomper Voo, an owner of a phone shop in Ang Mo Kio Town Centre, alleged that he was almost scammed by Lim on Oct 16.

"This guy came to my shop, tried to buy a phone from me and showed me a fake PayNow screenshot," recouunted the Stomper.

"I checked on my account and the transaction never went through. So he said he would call the bank. In the end, he said he transferred the money to the wrong UEN number.

"Luckily, I never kena. So I sent his photo to all my mobile shop friends and asked them take note of this guy."

Stomper discovered that Lim had allegedly used the same ruse at other shops.

This is not the first time Lim has been in the news.

On Aug 16, 2020, Lim was driving a Ferrari into a service road off Verdun Road in Little India when a white Audi pulled up in front of his car.

Four men leapt out of the Audi to confront Lim and forced him to kneel before bundling him into their car and speeding away, reported Lianhe Wanbao.

The four men were arrested the next day for wrongful confinement. The police said the men had held Lim to demand the return of money he had purportedly stolen from one of them in an e-commerce scam.

Lim was in the news again in February 2023 when he was sentenced to five years and 10 months' jail after pleading guilty to nine charges, including snatch theft and multiple counts of cheating involving nearly $700,000.

His victims included a 29-year-old woman he met through a dating website, reported The Straits Times.

She transferred $271,000 to him from May 1 to June 5, 2020, after Lim told her about his purported face-mask business.

Lim later told her that he needed $60,000 for a car business.

The woman later sensed that something was amiss and alerted the police.

 

[Gutted]

How come.he was sentenced to 5 years jail.in 2023 and now only 2025 he is out already to scam people???

His 2023 jail term cut short by who huh?

 

[True Believer]

With all the CCTVs around, how did Andrew Lim expect to get away with such scams - especially since he is a repeat offender. He was arrested within 3 hours of committing the PayNow scam at the Tech Show at Suntec City.

 

[True Believer]

Lim's multiple counts of cheating involved nearly $700K! No wonder he could afford a used Ferrari.

 

[True Believer]

His victims included a 29-year-old woman he met through a dating website. No wonder both men and women have lost faith in dating apps.

 

[True Believer]

The 4 men kidnapped Lim to demand the return of money he had stolen from 1 of them in an e-commerce scam. Andrew keeps committing offences instead of looking for a proper job. How does he expect to find gainful employment now with a criminal record?

 

[True Believer]

How come.he was sentenced to 5 years jail.in 2023 and now only 2025 he is out already to scam people??? His 2023 jail term cut short by who huh?

He probably scammed the Changi Prison warden into recommending him for early release after less than 1/2 of his original sentence was served.

 

[Gutted]

He probably scammed the Changi Prison warden into recommending him for early release after less than 1/2 of his original sentence was served.

Like that also can work ah? Singapore really become 3rd world under the PAP

 

[True Believer]

Like that also can work ah? Singapore really become 3rd world under the PAP

Nowadays, even with the payment alerts at hawker and wet market stalls, stallholders look sceptically at even regulars when we pay via PayNow.

 

[True Believer]

Who still falls for PayNow scams using fake screen shots? Don't most small businesses have some form of payment alert for transactions that were cleared?

 

[Balls2U]

"He is accused of intentionally deceiving a Mr Prince Pal Singh into believing that a payment of $3,599 was made for the purchase of a Lenovo Legion Pro 7 laptop."

Why Bahyis like to use the name "Prince" these days? There's already a Joseph Prince from NCC.

 

[Hightech88]

Lim was in the news again in February 2023 when he was sentenced to five years and 10 months' jail after pleading guilty to nine charges, including snatch theft and multiple counts of cheating involving nearly $700,000.

Sentenced to 5 yrs 10 mths jail in 2023 how come now still outside? Something is not right here.

https://www.straitstimes.com/singap...atch-theft-and-cheating-involving-nearly-700k

 

[Gutted]

Sentenced to 5 yrs 10 mths jail in 2023 how come now still outside? Something is not right here.

https://www.straitstimes.com/singap...atch-theft-and-cheating-involving-nearly-700k

Yep. That was the question I asked earlier.

 

[searcher1]

Now is you scam, you will have additional rotan canning rite !
Please make this a Law asap !!!

 

[Willamshakespear]

Perhaps, in a perverse way, Humanity should be thankful that ANIMALS like Andrew Lim Zi Kai exist. Without knowing what is bad, Humankind will never know what is good, to progress and evolve......

Planet Earth's BASIC one and only Golden Rule - Do not do unto others what you do not want others to do unto you - holds true in Human Civilization... Most Humans have NO wish to cheat others, OR to be CHEATED by others.....

On the Macro scale, beasts like Andrew Lim Zi Kai SHOWS UP the MISTAKES that can and will occur when Humanity progresses WITHOUT addressing pertinent issues that may or will occur.... It is ATTENTION TO DETAILS that most Humankind lacks, a sad mistake that often emerging Nations make....

Take the example of an honest busy Hawker, whom is doing his/her best to earn a living to survive and put food on the table for oneself and loved ones. With the LOOPHOLE that that the monstrous and cheater Andrew Lim Zi Kai had PROVEN - MISUSING Technology, such honest folks would had been cheated, as being honest, trusting and busy, they would have NO TIME to check their accounts....

Perhaps, it may be time for our Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong's son, the highly intelligent Mr Lee Hong Yi, Administrator of the Open Government Products (OGP) division of the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech), to step in and device tech innovations that may at the least limit such issues to save the honest livelihoods of fellow citizens,...

...such as with support from our banking institutions, to send LIGHT SPEED ALERTS to a client - regardless if MNC CEO or a toilet cleaner, an amount HAD BEEN CREDITED to their accounts.....it is NOT impossible in this day and age of AI advancements......no matter the amounts as AI is good even at thousands of decimal points at light speed within NANOSECONDS...