Five from mobile phone shop in Sim Lim Square charged

[EdmondHonda]

Five from mobile phone shop in Sim Lim Square charged

Five men from another mobile phone shop in Sim Lim Square were charged in court with cheating on Thursday.



Published Oct 22, 2015, 1:03 pm SGT
Elena Chong
Court Correspondent

SINGAPORE - Five men from a mobile phone shop in Sim Lim Square were charged in court with cheating on Thursday.

The boss of Gadget Terminal, Chung Choon Cheik, 33, a Malaysian, faces eight charges. Salesmen Wilson Lim Weisheng, 30, Justin Chew Chee Kin, 36, a Malaysian, Lin Facai, 32, and Tan Wei Ping, 40 , face between one and three charges each.

Chung, represented by Mr Peter Fernando, allegedly cheated customers of a total of $6,300 between October 2013 and September last year .

Seven of the charges accuse him of scheming with either Lim, Chew, Lin or Tan to cheat walk-in customers. The co-accused allegedly duped walk-in customers into believing that the phone or phones would be sold to them at a certain price which they knew to be false.

Lim allegedly conspired with Chung to cheat a customer of $3,600 as payment for three iPhones last Nov 9.

Chew is accused of abetment by conspiracy to cheat two customers of $300 and $1,000 in September and October last year.

The total amount involved in Lin's three charges is $800, while Tan faces a single charge of conspiracy to cheat a customer of $150.

Lim, Chew and Lin, who indicated that they intend to plead guilty, will return to court on Nov 12.

Tan faces further investigation for a separate series of cases at Sim Lim Square. Additional charges, if any, may be tendered at his next court appearance the same day.

Chung's case has been fixed for a pre-trial conference on Nov 19. He was offered $20,000 bail.

Lim's police bail has been extended while the others were offered $10,000 bail each. Their passports have been impounded.

Last week, four salesmen of the notorious Mobile Air phone shop were given between four and 14 months' jail each for conspiring with Mobile Air's owner Jover Chew to cheat customers.

The maximum punishment for cheating is 10 years' jail and a fine.

 

[EdmondHonda]

Sim Lim Square salesman jailed 6 months for cheating customers at two mobile phone shops

Published 2 hours ago
Amir Hussain

SINGAPORE - A 40-year-old mobile phone salesman who cheated foreign walk-in customers at two separate Sim Lim Square shops in 2014 was jailed for six months on Monday (Feb 29).

Tan Wei Ping pleaded guilty to two charges of conspiring with Gadget Terminal boss Chung Choon Cheik, 33, alias Gavin, and with Mobile Apps owner Tee Boon Chien, 29, to commit the offences.

Tan is the second Gadget Terminal employee to be sentenced, and the first from Mobile Apps. Both shops have closed.
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He worked for Chung from October 2013 to June 2014, and received a commission on the sales he made at Gadget Terminal.

Chung allegedly taught his staff to offer phones at attractive prices and use dirty tricks to get more money out of customers once they had agreed to the price.

On March 8, 2014, Tan quoted a 31-year-old Bangladeshi electrician working here $150 for a Motorola Moto G.

After the customer handed over his ATM card, Tan covered the Nets terminal screen and told him to key in his PIN. Tan gave the excuse that he needed to hold it in that manner "so that the Nets terminal will be connected".

But the transaction did not go through because Tan had tried to charge him $1,050, when he had only $500 in his bank account.

Tan then asked the electrician to pay in cash and sign a document. After he did this, Tan demanded $900 more, saying it was for the "warranty" which he had signed.

When the customer queried this, Tan shouted an expletive at him and told him to leave.

Even when the victim called the police, Tan said there would be a "cancellation fee" and refunded just $60.

On Oct 6, 2014, six days after Tan starting working at Mobile Apps, he quoted a 23-year-old technician from China working here $1,350 for an iPhone 6 Plus.

After the customer had paid for the phone, Tan made him sign a 12-month "warranty". Tan then told him it cost $1,188, and if he did not pay up, he would get back only $450.

After negotiation, Tan reduced the "warranty" to $650. The technician left with his mobile phone, after paying the additional amount.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Muhd Faizal Nooraznan asked for three to four months' jail per charge, and for the sentences to run consecutively.

The offences involved vulnerable victims, both of whom were earning only $1,000 a month, he said. The cheating cases had also created a "deep sense of public disquiet", along with those at another errant Sim Lim Square retailer, Mobile Air.

In mitigation, Tan, who did not have a lawyer, told the court he had a degree from the National University of Singapore, but was made a bankrupt in 2010 and found it difficult to find a job. He also said he is supporting his two elderly parents.

Last month, another Gadget Terminal salesman, Justin Chew Chee Kin, 36, was jailed 28 weeks for cheating two customers. Mobile Air's boss and four staff were each jailed between four and 33 months for cheating last year.

 

[EdmondHonda]

Third man in Gadget Terminal case jailed six months for cheating

Lin Facai is the third Gadget Terminal employee to be convicted and sentenced. PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO

Published Mar 14, 2016, 2:55 pm SGT

Elena Chong
Court Correspondent

SINGAPORE - A 32-year-old mobile phone salesman who cheated three walk-in customers at a Sim Lim Square shop in 2014 was jailed for six months on Monday (March 14).

Lin Facai pleaded guilty to two charges of conspiring with Gadget Terminal boss Chung Choon Cheik alias Gavin, 33, to cheat two customers of $400 and $250 in September 2014.

He is the third Gadget Terminal employee to be convicted and sentenced.

Lin worked for Chung from March to December 2014, and received a commission of 30 to 40 per cent on the sales made at the Rochor Canal Road shop.

Chung allegedly taught his staff to offer phones at attractive prices and use dirty tricks to get more money out of customers once they had agreed to the price.

On Sept 13 that year, Lin agreed to sell a Samsung mobile phone to a 41-year-old factory worker from China upon trade-in of his cellphone and a $400 payment.

After the customer handed over his money and phone to Lin, he inspected the Samsung Note 3 phone.

Lin then took the items to a room at the back of the shop on the pretext of needing to prepare a warranty. The customer said he did not need one, but Lin insisted.

He returned and asked the customer to sign on a document, which was in English but the customer could not understand it. He was told it was an agreement to register the warranty.

After the customer had signed it, Lin immediately demanded an extra $414 for the warranty. He refused to hand over the Note 3 to the customer unless he paid the extra amount.

Police were called. The victim was advised to lodge a complaint with Consumers Association of Singapore (Case).

Lin finally agreed to deliver the Note 3 to the customer, who paid $180 more.

The next day, Lin cheated Mr Radhakrishnan Balasubramaniam, a 41-year-old permanent resident who works in the IT industry.

Lin made the victim believe that he would sell him an iPhone 4 for $250 when this was untrue.

After Mr Radhakrishnan had paid Lin $250, he signed a document purportedly for a two-year warranty.

Lin later produced an invoice book and asked Mr Radhakrishnan to pay $505 for the two-year warranty before he would hand over the cellphone to him.

Lin also told the customer that under the agreement, only 40 per cent of the $250 which had been paid could be refunded. Mr Radhakrishnan's friend called the police.

Mr Radhakrishnan was advised by the police to lodge a complaint with Case. He left the shop without the iPhone nor any refund.

A third charge was taken into consideration. Lin could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined on each charge.