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SINGAPORE — Over almost four years, Byron Yeaw Li Xun exploited the kindness of strangers who lent him about S$28,000 in total to cover his purported transport and living expenses.
Leaw cheated 78 victims, many of whom were students, and convinced them that he was in a rush and needed money to get somewhere.
Once, he borrowed S$2,000 from a full-time national serviceman (NSF) who had only S$2,100 in his bank account.
He then tried to get his hands on the remaining S$100 before the victim grew suspicious.
On Friday (Sept 23), Yeaw, now 26, was jailed for one year after pleading guilty to five counts of cheating. Another 18 charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.
Yeaw has been remanded since March this year. His bail was revoked when he continued to cheat people after being arrested and charged in court.
He has since made full restitution to all of the victims.
The court heard that Yeaw began his spree in early 2019 when he was working for Singtel.
But he had personal financial issues and then decided to borrow money from strangers.
He would generally wait at MRT stations and approach passersby, lying that he had to travel to a distant location. He then asked them to help to check the cost of a taxi or private-hire vehicle to that location.
When he asked to borrow money to cover his transport cost, he provided his identification documents to reassure them.
If they offered to book the ride for him, he would say that he had to arrange it himself so he could claim the sum from his employer. He then spent the cash on his personal expenses.
If the victims made police reports or threatened to do so, Yeaw usually returned the money to them.
He was arrested and charged in court in March 2020. He was then re-arrested a year later when he began asking strangers for larger loans to fund his gambling habits.
More at https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/jail-man-cheated-strangers-mrt-2001446
