Is it just me or are the number of scammers rising in Singapore?
For this article, the scammer comes in the form a 70-year old woman.
Who would have thought a seemingly innocent old woman would be able to scam a total of about $37.5 million!
Yes, $37.5 million!!
Who is the scammer?
Her name is Setho Oi Lin and she used to work at Keppel Club since 1966. She started off as a general clerk and worked her way up to being a personal assistant to the general manager.
She didn’t work alone. Membership department supervisor, Nah Hak Chuah and club member, Ivy Cheo Soh Chin were in cahoots with Setho.
From left to right: Setho Oi Lin, Nah Hak Chuah and Ivy Cheo Soh Chin.
The ultimate scam
They have been scamming people to pay for fake memberships at the Keppel Club between 1 June 2004 and 1 August 2014.
Instead of paying to the club directly, they were told to make payment to third parties, including Cheo, Setho’s daughter, mother and brother-in-law.
Nak (the supervisor) would then key in the victim’s details into the system and issue them membership cards.
“These buyers or their nominees were able to enter Keppel Club and make use of the club facilities as they were issued with membership cards and their details had been entered into the system. They did not realise what went on behind the scenes at the membership department,” said Deputy Public Prosecutor Hon Yi.
The victims paid between $26,500 and $41,500 each.
The jig was up when the general manager found out about the decade-long fraud where Setho issued about 1,200 membership cards without crediting any of the fees to the club.
Another thing worth mentioning is that Keppel Club ceased the sale of new transferable memberships in 1989 and it also stopped the sale of new non-transferable memberships in 1997.
“Since then, anyone who wishes to become a Keppel Club member has to purchase the membership from an existing member at a mutually agreed purchase price,” said Hon Yi.
“The purchase price includes a fixed transfer fee of $12,000, plus prevailing GST rate, and an account activation fee ranging from $300 to $530 across the years, both to be paid to Keppel Club,” he added.
The charges
Yesterday, Sethi pleaded guilty to 60 counts of cheating alongside 3121 other charges (1,281 counts of cheating, 1339 counts of abetting false entries into the club’s electronic membership database and 501 counts of dealing with the benefits of her criminal conduct) which will be considered during sentencing.
Nah and Cheo plead guilty to 30 of 1280 charges of making false entries in the club’s electronic membership database and 20 of 303 counts of money laundering, respectively.
Setho is currently out on bail of $300,000 and will be back in court on 9 Feb 2018.
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This article was first published on goodyfeed.com
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Featured image: straitstimes.com
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