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Conman pretends to be 19 different people to dupe friend of $126k
03 Jun 2011
SOURCE: The Straits Times
Fresh out of jail after a three-month prison term for theft, a former auxiliary police officer found himself short of cash.
Muhammad Aidil Mohammed Salleh, 25, then concocted an elaborate scam to milk the kindness of a colleague who had in the past been ever-ready to help him out with small loans.
Impersonating various figures of authority on the phone, he made a series of calls to that colleague, Mr Mohammad Shaifuddin Haji Mohd Amin, 46.
As a result of those calls, Mr Shaifuddin began believing himself to be in trouble with the law – trouble he could escape only by paying the caller certain “fees” for the “help” rendered to get him out of his “jam”.
He never figured out that the strangers to whom he was paying the sums of money were actually his younger friend.
In 20 months, Aidil fleeced him of nearly $126,000, using the money to feed his gambling habit and clear his debts.
Mr Shaifuddin, cleaned out of his life savings, has had to sell his four-room HDB flat and move his family into his mother’s three-room one.
District Judge Eddy Tham, jailing Aidil for four years yesterday, chastised the younger man for what he did, and for repaying Mr Shaifuddin’s kindness with evil.
A “very substantial custodial sentence” was thus called for, said the judge.
He said: “The victim had shown you kindness. He had unhesitatingly given you help when you needed it but, instead, you manipulated him without any conscience and caused him to not just lose his savings... Now, his whole family is suffering because of you, because of your addiction to gambling.”
Young as Aidil was, he had sized Mr Shaifuddin up to be the gullible sort.
The 18 fictitious characters he cooked up included a police investigating officer, an assistant superintendent of police, a deputy public prosecutor and even a magistrate.
Pretending to be an assistant superintendent of police (ASP) named Tracey, Aidil called Mr Shaifuddin to include him in a survey among Certis Cisco officers.
During the interview, Mr Shaifuddin misstated a detail on his own national service record, and as Aidil spotted this factual error, he capitalised on it by threatening Mr Shaifuddin with criminal proceedings under his other guises, including those of law enforcement officers and public servants.
Aidil’s other fictitious characters expressed sympathy with Mr Shaifuddin, and offered to iron out his legal troubles if he paid “levies” and various fees for “court processing”, “stamping of documents” and “legal representation”.
A fearful Mr Shaifuddin took to borrowing money from his family and other sources to get his “file” closed.
Judge Tham, addressing Aidil yesterday, assigned him something to do when he is released from prison: “When you come out, I hope you will find a job and not forget the debt you owe Mr Shaifuddin, do you understand?”
The judge also directed the prosecutor to ask the investigation officer to refer Mr Shaifuddin to agencies who can give him financial assistance.
Aidil’s offences came to light when Mr Shaifuddin lodged a police report on Feb 22 about having been cheated by several law enforcement officers and public servants, the names of whom he had just come to realise were fictitious.
Aidil could have been jailed up to 10 years and fined on each of the 20 proceeded charges.
