What would you do if someone offered you cash to pretend to rent a unit at a condominium?
All you have to do is sign a tenancy agreement and stay somewhere else.
If your answer was “sign it lah, who wouldn’t?”, you’re probably unaware that it could land you behind bars.
And that’s exactly what happened to one man recently.
Pretended to Rent Condo Unit Which Sex Worker Later Used
Desperate for cash, Lin Fengchun scoured the web in October 2019 in search of ways to make some money.
The 26-year-old then came across an advertisement looking for individuals to sign tenancy agreements on another person’s behalf in exchange for payment.
When he responded to the ad, a man identifying himself as “Da Ge” contacted Lin on WeChat and said he needed help to rent a unit because he held only a work permit and couldn’t do so himself.
So, in exchange for payment, Lin agreed to the man’s request.
Da Ge selected a condo unit in the eastern part of Singapore and arranged for Lin to meet with the landlord’s property agent on 20 October 2019.
Lin told the property agent that he was working shifts as ground crew at Changi Airport and had a girlfriend who was a flight stewardess and would stay over occasionally.
Both these claims were not true, of course.
But the agent had no reason to believe Lin was lying, and later got the owner to agree to lease out the unit to Lin.
Lin signed a tenancy agreement for 12 months from 5 November that year, agreeing to pay a monthly rental of $2,000.
After signing the agreement, Da Ge transferred 2,000 yuan (S$413) to Lin via WeChat as payment.
The last thing he had to do was leave the tenancy agreement and keys to the unit inside the home before leaving, and keep the main door unlocked.
Lin has never stayed in the unit since.
Unbeknownst to him, the unit would later be used for some illegal hanky-panky.
Jailed For Four Weeks & Fined
To Lin’s surprise, the police found a 35-year-old China national providing sexual services inside the unit when they conducted a raid on 14 Apr, 2020.
They arrested the woman, and Lin was soon nabbed too.
26-year-old Lin was sentenced to four weeks’ imprisonment and fined $4,000 for one charge of cheating. Another two charges were taken into consideration. The judge agreed to defer his sentence to 12 May.
In mitigation, Lin’s lawyer said there’s “no evidence that he knew what the unit he rented was to be used for”.
Four weeks in jail is bad, but it could have been much worse for Lin, as those convicted of cheating can be jailed up to three years.
So, if you come across an online ad where someone offers you cash to pretend to rent a unit, just pretend you never saw the ad instead.
Feature Image: Dan Henson / Shutterstock.com
Would you be jailed for being half-naked in public? Well, the answer will shock you. Seriously. Watch this to the end and you'll understand:
