News

Man Managed to ‘Borrow’ $28,000 from Passers-By at MRT Stations for 4 Years

2022-09-24 , 10:19 am

Has anyone ever approached you at MRT stations, asking for some money to cover their transport costs?

This man took advantage of kind and benevolent people like you (right?) and managed to cheat a total of $28,000, including $2,000 from a poor NSF.

Here’s what happened.

Cheated 78 People Over 4 Years, Mostly Students

Byron Yeaw Li Xun, 26, cheated 78 victims across four years. He began cheating people in early 2019, when he faced personal financial issues and decided to borrow money from strangers. He mostly targeted students and younger girls.

He would loiter at MRT stations and approach passersby, saying that he had to go somewhere super far. Yeaw would ask them to help him check the cost of a taxi or private-hire vehicle to that location.

Then, he would show them his IC to convince them to lend him money for transport. He would say that he has to arrange the ride himself instead of letting them book it for him, so that he can claim the money from his employer.

When some victims got suspicious and threatened to make police reports, Yeaw would usually return the money to them.

But for those who genuinely believed his story and lent him the money freely, he would then spend it on his personal expenses.

Cheated $2,000 from NSF with $2,100 in Bank Account

Yeaw scammed this NSF in February 2022, approaching him at Yew Tee MRT Station and claiming he only had $0.50 left in his bank account.

He then spun a story about how he didn’t receive his $3,000 salary on time from his employer, convincing the NSF to lend him money so he can survive till the end of the month.

The NSF, who only had $2,100 in his bank account, decided to lend Yeaw $2,000. However, when Yeaw asked for the remaining $100, the NSF got suspicious and lodged a police report.

Arrested, Then Re-Arrested When He Continued Cheating on Bail

Yeaw was arrested and charged in court in March 2020, then re-arrested in March 2021 when he started asking for bigger loans to fund his gambling addiction.

While released on court bail in end-August 2021, he continued cheating others till March 2022, where he got remanded.

He has since paid all the victims back in full.

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Jailed for One Year

On 23 September 2022, Yeaw was jailed for a year after pleading guilty to five counts of cheating. An additional 18 charges were considered during his sentencing.

The prosecution noted that he had honed his mode of operation, seeing how he tended to approach younger girls and students.

He could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined for each cheating offence.