Serial cheat sentenced to eight weeks' jail for online scam
A storeman who cheated several victims on the Internet of about $3,000 was jailed for eight weeks on Wednesday (Nov 25).
Published Nov 25, 2015, 2:10 pm SGT
Elena Chong
Court Correspondent
SINGAPORE - A storeman who cheated several victims on the Internet of about $3,000 was jailed for eight weeks on Wednesday (Nov 25).
Muhammad Amer Hamzah Mohammadi, 28, conned 46 people of a total of $2,795 by posing as a woman offering sexual services for payment; he also duped another eight people of $330 for online items he claimed he had for sale.
He had admitted to 10 of 54 charges, and has since made full restitution of $3,125.
A district court heard, that between end-2013 and July last year, Amer cheated several victims using an online sex scam.
He created multiple accounts on social networks and chatrooms and posed as a woman offering sexual services for payment.
When contacted by the victims, he would pretend to be a woman willing to provide sexual services for $60.
When they agreed to pay, he would agree to meet them at a prearranged place, usually in Bedok area.
Once they reached the place, he would tell thevictims to make full payment via a bank transfer to a POSB account at a nearby automatic teller machine before he would meet them.
After the money had been transferred, he would stop communicating with them and keep the money.
In May last year, he set up an account on Facebook and posed as a woman offering Bluetooth devices for motorbike helmets for sale at $30 a set when he had neither a supplier nor stock-in-hand.
District Judge Low Wee Ping said the number of charges he faced was quite staggering. Another aggravating factor, he said, was the use of the Internet to commit such offences which are easy and pervasive.
Amer could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined on each charge.
