Two youths sentenced to probation, community service for charity scam

SINGAPORE — Two youths, who came up with a charity scam that tricked people into parting with their money, were sentenced by a district court yesterday to 18 months’ probation and ordered to do 100 hours of community service each.

Brian Sie Eng Fa, 20, and Ho Loong Ann, 19, claimed to be raising funds for St Luke’s ElderCare, an organisation that provides daycare services to the elderly.

For a S$10 donation, they would give their victims a badge as a “souvenir”. The pair made door-to-door visits to a HDB block in Ang Mo Kio, and told their victims they were probationers serving out their community service hours. They also produced forged donation registration permits to make their story more believable.

Sie and Ho then split the cash proceeds from the scam between themselves.

Investigations revealed that St Luke’s ElderCare does not raise money through door-to-door collections.

When the youths were caught, the proceeds of the scam totalling S$325 were found on them, as well as 14 badges and two forged permits.

Both Sie and Ho were expressionless as they stood together in the dock. Their parents, who were in court, had to sign a S$5,000 bond for each of them to ensure their good behaviour. The youths could have been jailed and fined for the offences.

Kimberly Spykerman