Man Jailed for Pawning a Fake Rolex Watch & Getting $18,000 in Return

These days, knock-off products are looking so similar to the real deal that it’s hard to tell them apart. As much as they look alike, maybe it isn’t such a good idea to let imitations function as the original.

A 55-year-old man did exactly this—he conspired to cheat a pawnshop of $18,000 with a fake Rolex watch. On Friday (4 Feb), the Singaporean man, Tan Kok Eng, pleaded guilty to the charge.

Approached By A Friend

Though court documents did not state the exact date that Tan was approached by his friend, we know that his friend asked him to exchange a counterfeit Rolex watch at Marsiling Pawnshop for money. The friend is a 33-year-old Singaporean man named Aw Poh Heng.

Perhaps some confidence was built within Tan when Aw allegedly told him that he cheated the pawnshop twice on 15 July last year by pledging two fake Rolex watches for $34,500.

Aw then allegedly requested for his friend to help him pledge a third luxury watch, as he did not want to seem suspicious for pawning too many luxury watches over a short period. Wanting to help Aw settle his outstanding debt, he agreed to the plan.

Here, Aw allegedly gave Tan a counterfeit Rolex costing around $800.

Fake watch in hand, Tan headed to the pawnshop at 10am on 16 July last year and told the staff member that the Rolex was a genuine one. He also claimed that he left the watch box and authenticity certificate at home.

The staff member accepted the counterfeit and gave Tan $18,000 in cash.

Ecstatic success.

Upon getting the cash, both men went to a jewellery shop to buy gold. Tan bought a gold amulet hook for $430.

Join our Telegram channel for more entertaining and informative articles at https://t.me/goodyfeedsg or download the Goody Feed app here: https://goodyfeed.com/app/

Jailed For Six Months

The scheme wasn’t so successful after all.

On 4 Feb, Tan was sentenced to six months in jail.

It’s unknown how the pawnshop knew about the fake watch.

After Tan sought to defer his sentence until after the Chinese New Year period, District Judge Jasvendar Kaur ordered for the sentence to begin on 16 Feb.

Read Also:

Featured Image: rodcoffee/ shutterstock.com (Image is for illustration purpose only)