News

There’s a S’porean Version of ‘Tinder Swindler’ & He Posed as a Rich Korean Heir

2022-03-17 , 5:42 pm

A Singaporean man pretended to be a rich Korean heir to scam friends, employees, and lovers over $150,000.

Here’s how he did it.

Acted As “Park Joon Hyung” To Buy Property

Jerald Low Jing Yong, a 27-year-old Singaporean man, pretended to be a rich Korean man “Park Joon Hyung” in May 2019.

He then used this persona to meet with a property agent, who took Low to see lots of properties over three days. Low then signed off of 13 cheques for seven properties, some of which were managed by big developers like Keppel Bay and Angullia Development.

However, the sellers told Low and the agent that the cheques bounced. The properties were eventually released for other buyers.

Although these property sellers didn’t really get scammed, other people weren’t so lucky.

Scammed Other Potential Boyfriends

Most of Low’s 51 charges were telco scams. He would persuade victims to sign up for phone lines that were “necessary for work”, and said he’ll pay the fees eventually. Low would then take the mobile phones gotten from the contracts and sell them, as well as use the mobile lines to buy credits on iTunes.

Some of his telco scam victims were his potential boyfriends.

Yes, boyfriend. Gay people do exist.

Low cheated four men he met on gay dating apps and online forums.

In 2018, he met a 24-year-old man on an online forum and met him on New Year’s Eve, saying that he wished to “start the new year with a new boyfriend”. He even rented a car to drive the other man around, and told him that he’s a wealthy son of someone who worked in the Korean oil and gas industry.

This convinced the other man that Low was rich and serious about being his boyfriend. After successfully convincing the man of his love, Low proceeded to persuade him to sign seven phone line contracts.

He got six mobile phones from that, which he sold on 4 January 2019. When the man asked Low to repay him over $5,000 for the costs of the contracts, Low blocked his number.

Needless to say, the same storyline happened to the other three men who he scammed. But a less romantic version also happened to an employee.

Scammed Employee, Caused Her Bipolar Disorder to Relapse

Low established a shell company called Fitness Tea, and hired a woman on 26 October 2018, supposedly to post job openings online and interview applicants.

However, he persuaded the employee to sign up for five phone contracts, saying it was for business purposes.

He also agreed to marry the woman on 27 October 2018, and filed an online notice of marriage.

Of course, this sounded super sus, and her sister-in-law told her that it might be a scam. This led the woman’s bipolar disorder to relapse, and she ended up getting admitted to the Institute of Mental Health from 30 October to 24 December 2018.

According to an IMH report in 2019, a symptom of the woman’s disorder is “delusions of love”.

It’s one thing to scam someone, and another thing to cause them to relapse. However, Low still had even more tricks up his sleeve.

Wrote Cheques to Himself

Low decided to issue cheques to his own bank account, even though he knew it would bounce. He thought doing this would increase his account balance, which he could then flaunt.

In April 2018, Low took his mother’s chequebook and issued himself a $1 trillion cheque, forging her signature and depositing it.

Since nobody in their right mind would sign a cheque for $1 trillion, OCBC investigated the incident and found out that his mother’s account was closed. They then lodged a police report.

Low also issued cheques to himself, and cheques to other people like the Central Provident Fund Board, the Housing Development Board, and insurance companies. As expected, the cheques were not cleared.

Renting Cars Using Others’ NRIC

He rented cars using other people’s personal particulars, like a man whose NRIC and driving license he took pictures of when they got in an accident in May 2018.

Low used the man’s details to register for a Tribecar account, which is a car renting service, and rented vehicles 18 times from December 2018 to January 2019.

While driving the rented car, he ran a red light and hit another vehicle in the car park. The man who Low pretended to be received summons and lawyer letters, and ended up filing police reports since he’d never driven the cars.

Persuaded Boyfriend to Be His Scapegoat, Lie to Police

In 2020, Low met his boyfriend, 22-year-old Desmond Poon Jun Yee. He told Poon that he was the director and owner of a well-known bubble tea franchise.

Since Low knew that he was being investigated, he made a plan to convince Poon to take the fall for him and managed to actually convince Poon.

He then lodged a false police report on 9 September 2020, saying that he had committed his crimes because Poon instructed him to. Low also said that Poon threatened him and his family, and even physically abused him.

He made a second report on 23 November 2020, saying that Poon “mentally and physically” tortured him. Sounds like the pot calling the kettle black, doesn’t it?

But this gets even wilder: in March 2021, he somehow convinced his boyfriend to say that he sexually assaulted Low, so that Low’s earlier reports were more believable. In an interview with the police on 9 April 2021, he said that Poon raped him more than 15 times, and formally filed a police report about that.

He then kept lying about this in other statements to the police, and was even sent to a sexual assault medical exam.

Really, it’s unbelievable how Low somehow gaslighted Poon into ruining his entire life for him, as Poon also supported Low’s lies. But I guess love really is blind, till the very last interview where he came clean and said none of it was true.

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67 Months’ Jail, $1,800 Fine, and 1 Year Ban from Driving

District Judge Soh Tze Bian labelled Low a “habitual swindler with no remorse”, which, honestly? After this whole story, we can all see why.

He was sentenced to 67 months of imprisonment and fined $1,800. He’s also banned from driving until a year after his release from prison.

This truly does sound like the Singaporean version of The Tinder Swindler, except that Low actually got his punishment.

So next time, you’ll know to look out if someone asks you to sign multiple mobile line contracts.