2 years’ jail for man who ran Carousell concert ticket scam, earning S$38,000

SINGAPORE — Over about three months, he duped more than 40 people into parting with S$38,000 in total for concert tickets on online marketplace Carousell. Several victims were teenagers as young as 13.

Chua Yi An spent all that money on himself. He frequented eateries such as popular Chinese hotpot restaurant Haidilao at least three times a week, spending S$3,000 to S$4,000 on food every month.

He also spent S$1,000 to S$2,000 on alcohol at nightclubs, and stayed in Genting Hotel in Jurong for two weeks while scamming people. His hotel stay cost about S$3,000.

For his offences, the 24-year-old was sentenced to two years’ jail on Friday (July 12).

He had earlier pleaded guilty to 16 cheating charges, with another 32 charges taken into consideration for sentencing.

On Friday, District Judge Kessler Soh warned Chua not to commit further offences when he is released, especially as this was not his first conviction for cheating.

“I read your letter — you say you regret what you’ve done and you want to change. I hope you’re serious about this. You’re still quite young… You should use resources, whatever ideas you have, not to cheat people but find something useful to do with your life,” the judge told him.

MODUS OPERANDI

The court heard that Chua began posting advertisements on Carousell in October 2018.

When people responded to his advertisements for the sale of various concert tickets, such as for popular Korean groups BTS and Blackpink, he asked them to transfer money to him before they could get their tickets.

However, after they did so, he turned evasive and gave various reasons on why he could not deliver the tickets or make refunds, before becoming uncontactable altogether.

Many of his victims were teenagers and young adults. One 14-year-old girl transferred S$1,408 to him for four BTS concert tickets, while another 15-year-old girl sent him S$816 for Blackpink tickets.

CHEATED ONE VICTIM OUT OF S$13,000

Chua duped a 20-year-old woman several times using various methods and schemes.

Under the username “osrsosrs”, he got her to transfer S$870 for three BTS concert tickets in December last year.

In January this year, he switched usernames to “littlekittydeals”. He responded to her Carousell advertisement and introduced himself as Kaixuan.

He then got the victim to transfer S$1,266 for three BTS concert tickets and six sets of BTS official light sticks. He told her he would meet her at the concert venue, but did not turn up.

Later that same month, on Jan 23, he contacted her again through WhatsApp and introduced himself as Xiaoqi, a purported client of Kaixuan. He claimed that both of them were partners in a clothing business.

Posing as Xiaoqi, he said that since Kaixuan owed the victim money and Xiaoqi owed Kaixuan money, he could issue a refund cheque to the victim if she transferred the difference in amount to Kaixuan’s boyfriend.

The victim then transferred S$2,500 into someone else’s bank account. She did not know that it belonged to a man whom Chua needed to pay for credits for the online game Runescape.

The next day, Chua told her that Kaixuan’s clothing supplier needed to receive payment before the clothing order could be placed and her refund processed.

He said he would be willing to give her a cheque, if she transferred payment to Kaixuan’s clothing supplier first. She agreed and transferred S$1,049 into the bank account of a jewellery shop’s owner.

Chua then told the owner that he had paid the S$1,049 for a heart-shaped diamond necklace.

The next day, Chua contacted the victim again and told her she could reap profits if she invested in his clothing business.

Between Jan 25 and 30, she transferred a total of S$7,440 into Mr Ng’s bank account.

Chua has not made restitution to any of his victims.

For each charge of cheating, he could have been jailed up to 10 years and fined.