If a banker comes to you offering a great investment opportunity in the bank’s name, would you take it?
You’d have no reason to suspect they were trying to swindle you, unless they let out an evil laugh every time you handed them money.
But, as this case will show, trusting someone could be your undoing, especially when it comes to the money you worked so hard to earn.
34Y/O Former Bank Executive from UOB & OCBC Cheated 7 People of About $2 Million
Our tale begins in 2015.
At the time, 34-year-old Han Delong was working for UOB as a senior personal banker.
According to The Straits Times, he was responsible for the sale and marketing of the bank’s wealth products, such as unit trusts and structured deposits.
That year, Han promoted several fixed deposits to four victims, which is a type of bank account that promises the investor a fixed rate of interest. It typically provides investors a higher rate of interest than a regular savings account.
The problem was that Han’s supposed fixed deposits, which he claimed were issued by UOB, didn’t exist.
Nonetheless, his victims fell for his scam.
The first victim was a woman who handed over cash totalling $95,000. He, of course, misappropriated the money.
He used the same method on three other victims and resigned from UOB in December 2015.
But he continued to promote the fake fixed deposit purportedly issued by UOB to his victim, and she was persuaded into handing over another $20,000.
Han was then hired by OCBC as a premier relationship manager and worked there from March 2016 to January 2017. Just like when he was in UOB, Han was responsible for OCBC’s wealth products.
So, he continued targeting his victims while working for OCBC, even after he resigned.
His offences only came to light when one of his victims reported him to OCBC after he tried to defraud her. OCBC then lodged a police report, and Han was soon nabbed.
Jailed for 7 Years
Yesterday (10 May), the 34-year-old was sentenced to seven years’ jail after pleading guilty to 27 charges.
This included five counts of criminal breach of trust, seven of cheating, and one of forgery.
In total, Han scammed his victims of about $1.9 million. Some of the money he misappropriated was transferred to other people, including his brother.
He has since made restitution of $275,000, which the judge took into account. However, the judge believed that Han’s repayment of a separate sum of $350,000 to some of his victims was “just one method of continuing the offence”.
His jail term has been backdated to 8 October 2019, when he was remanded.
Feature Image: karanik yimpat / Shutterstock.com
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