As you may know, the stock market can be a smart way to grow your wealth.
However, few people know what stocks to invest in, which is why they often leave their money in the hands of financial experts.
Typically, these experts would choose the stocks which they believe will bring the highest returns in the coming years, and take a little from each customer as commission.
Or, if you’re like this 66-year-old man, you could forgo buying shares altogether and simply uh, deposit all their money into your own bank account.
Man Cheated Elderly Woman of Over S$128K By Pretending to Buy Shares for Her
Between 2010 to 2015, Tan Chee Lok worked as a remisier with Lim & Tan Securities, according to The Straits Times.
His job involved servicing trading accounts maintained by clients and helping them buy shares on the stock market.
As any remisier, broker, or fund manager would, Tan would get a commission from every transaction.
But when a now-87-year-old woman set up an account with the firm and trusted Tan to execute her share orders, he did something a little different.
Tan told the victim that all she had to do was sign blank cheques and that he would help her fill them out and use the money to buy shares.
So the victim, who is a housewife with no educational qualifications, did as Tan instructed, and handed him dozens of cheques between 19 January 2010, and 26 November 2015.
Instead of placing the orders, however, Tan cashed the cheques and deposited the money into his own bank accounts so he could later use it himself.
To avoid detection, Tan would deposit some money into the victim’s bank account whenever she wanted to sell the shares she had “bought”.
Between 2010 and 2015, Tan used the victim’s cheques to withdraw money from her bank account 54 times.
In June 2016, Tan resigned from his firm as he kept losing money, but lied to the victim that he was still working part-time with his company.
The last time he cashed in the victim’s cheque was on 31 October 2016, when he withdrew $1,002.80 from her account.
In total, Tan took $128,305.82 from the victim between 19 January 2010, and 31 October 2016.
He also deposited $87,847.13 into the victim’s bank account during this time to avoid getting caught.
Her Son Uncovered Scam
His offences came to light when the victim’s son was setting up her will.
When the man called up Tan’s company and learned that her last trade was on 14 April 2010, he was shocked as he knew his mother had been issuing cheques to buy shares up until 2016.
He lodged a police report on 2 May 2019.
Jailed 15 Months & 4 Weeks
Yesterday (18 May), Tan was jailed for 15 months and four weeks after pleading guilty to two counts of criminal breach of trust as an agent and one of criminal breach of trust.
Another four similar charges were considered during sentencing.
Tan has since made full restitution of the leftover sum of $40,458.69 to the victim.
Be careful of who you entrust with your money.
Feature Image : NAN728 / Shutterstock.com
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