These days, many people look to online dating to meet new people and perhaps even enter long-term relationships. This is especially so due to the pandemic where it is difficult to socialise.
But of course, when engaging in such activities online, there is always a risk of meeting catfishes, aka people who pretend to be someone they are not.
And it becomes worse when they start blackmailing you and harassing you after they have tricked you.
Man Posed as Caucasian on Tinder to Get Naked Photos from Multiple Women
Ong Chun Siang, a 25-year-old Singaporean, admitted to catfishing women on dating platform Tinder by posing as a Caucasian named Jake. He downloaded a photo of a random Caucasian man and used the photo as his profile picture for the platform sometime in 2018.
He matched with a 30-year-old woman on 20 December 2018 and they started texting over Whatsapp after exchanging phone numbers.
Everything seemed normal for the woman, but things started to change a week later when he sent her a message saying, “I wish I can see you in laces now.”
This made the victim very uncomfortable and she responded by saying that she did not want to send any photos because she was afraid that he was not who he said he was.
Ong then reassured her that she would be able to see for herself who he was when they met on 29 December 2018.
Since he did not successfully get any photos from the victim, he told her that he was sad. He then kept convincing her to send him her nudes, and she eventually relented.
On 29 December 2018, the day they were supposed to meet, Ong told the victim that the meeting would not happen because he was catfishing her. He also told her that he had already deleted all of the nudes that she sent him, but in reality, he had not.
Two days later, Ong attempted to contact the victim again through WhatsApp, but she did not pay him any attention and ignored his messages. Angered by this, he threatened to post her nudes on social media platforms as well as pornographic websites.
Taking Revenge on Victim for Not Replying
Since she continued to ignore his messages, he decided that it was only right for her to receive a punishment. He went behind her back onto another dating platform, OkCupid, and set up a fake profile using her real name, age, and phone number.
On the profile, he indicated that she was “looking for men” and “hookups”. To make things more believable, he even uploaded two nude photographs that exposed her face and breasts.
The victim soon got messages from strangers asking to hook up with her. Knowing that something was amiss, she quickly tried to find the fake profile along with her friends and got OkCupid to take the profile down. The profile was successfully removed on 7 January 2019.
Having had enough of his nonsense, the woman also filed a police report and through planning with the authorities, they decided to lure him out and arrest him.
The woman carried out the plan by messaging Ong and telling him that they should meet so that they can hook up. He believed her and the pair met near a Middle Road hotel on 8 February 2019. There, police officers apprehended him.
The Court Hearing
During the court hearing, it was revealed that Ong had also committed similar offences against a 29-year-old woman whom he had met on Tinder shortly after he met the 30-year-old. According to Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Shen Wanqin, other women also stepped forward to say that they were fearful, threatened and harassed by Ong, but none of them succumbed to his threats.
The moment he started his threats, they filed a police report and stopped talking to him.
Defence lawyer Kalidass Murugaiyan explained that Ong has adjustment disorder, and this prompted the court to call for a report to assess his suitability for a mandatory treatment order (MTO) and a day reporting order (DRO).
An MTO requires offenders to receive treatment for their mental conditions instead of serving a jail sentence, while a DRO requires offenders to report to a day reporting centre so that they can be monitored and counselled. Offenders would also have to go through rehabilitation.
Ong eventually pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal intimidation and a harassment charge, all of which involved both the 29-year-old and the 30-year-old.
Other charges to be considered during sentencing are one charge under the Films Act, three charges for harassment, and two for criminal intimidation. These charges are linked to the initial pair, as well as two other victims.
The court hearing has been adjourned to next month, so hopefully, we will know his sentencing then.
Looks like not all love stories have a happy ending, like this one:
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