Jail for man who cheated girlfriend and her brother of S$181,500, fled Singapore for a decade

SINGAPORE — Jason Chin Jin Seong was married when he met a woman on social networking channel Friendster in 2005, but that did not stop him from starting a romantic relationship with her.

He ended up cheating her and her younger brother of S$181,500 through various tricks. When she started to doubt his lies, he posed as a female cousin.

Chin then left Singapore in July 2011 after the police began investigating him. He was arrested in February this year upon his return to Singapore.

On Tuesday (Oct 25), the Singaporean man, 47, was sentenced to two years and eight months’ jail for his offences from 2008 to 2010.

He pleaded guilty to 14 cheating charges. Another 26 similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

WHAT HAPPENED

The court heard that Chin’s victims were unaware that he was married.

He would ask his girlfriend to transfer money or give him cash because he needed money for various reasons.

He also lied that he had RM14 million in a Malaysian bank account and that he would reward her with S$100,000 if she helped him.

When she ran out of money to help him, he approached her brother and got him to transfer money for various reasons as well.

On one occasion around April 2009, Chin called his girlfriend to say that he had been fined S$5,000 by the Singapore authorities for making a false immigration declaration in Australia and New Zealand during his travels. He then asked for a loan of S$1,300.

A few days later, he said that he would be flying to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to settle some money transfers after being released by the Singapore authorities.

He then told her that he had been detained by the authorities in Malaysia and fined RM50,000 (around S$12,000 in 2009) for failing to account for money transferred from Melbourne, Australia to Kuala Lumpur.

She transferred S$11,450 to him as a loan on his request.

When she started to doubt what Chin had been telling her, he created a fictitious persona called “Jolie” and introduced this person as his cousin.

While posing as Jolie, Chin told the victim that he had been fined RM20,000. This was purportedly because the “opposition party in Malaysia” appealed against the sentence meted out in a case involving Chin and “racial discrimination”, the court heard.

The victim then transferred S$5,200 to Jolie as a loan.

Shortly afterwards, Chin — still pretending to be Jolie — told the victim that he had incurred legal fees of RM79,000 after hiring a law firm to settle his money transfer matter. The victim then lent him S$9,300.

Other lies that Chin cooked up included:

• Being fined for assaulting someone while in detention in Malaysia
• Having to pay the Monetary Authority of Singapore S$50,000 so that his funds would not be frozen
• Being arrested by the Malaysian police for stealing the company’s petty cash amounting to RM50,000
• Needing to pay a processing and administrative fee of RM30,000 because his funds in Kuala Lumpur were frozen
• Having to pay a deposit after a deputy public prosecutor had detained him
• Helping his friend, a police officer, who was arrested for stealing money from a witness

LOST JOB IN 2007

On Tuesday, Chin’s lawyer Charmaine Neo, who was appointed under the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme, told the court that he lost his job in 2007 and could not find new employment due to the financial crisis at the time.

His mother was then diagnosed with cancer in 2008 and he depleted his savings by paying for her medical bills, Ms Neo added.

The defence counsel from Forte Law LLC also said that Chin fell for a China investment scam, investing S$45,000 between 2007 and 2009 before finding out that he had been scammed in 2011.

At this point, Senior District Judge Bala Reddy interjected to say that Chin was essentially cheating himself.

Ms Neo added that when Chin went to China in 2011 and discovered the scam, he felt “desolate” and decided to stay there and work as an interpreter. His mobile phone was then purportedly stolen and he could not communicate with the victims.

Last year, he suffered a stroke but could not return to Singapore due to Covid-19 travel restrictions. He then booked a direct flight this year to seek medical treatment and visit his mother, Ms Neo told the court.

The lawyer said that Chin did not realise he was wanted by the Singapore authorities because he managed to renew his passport twice.

He is married with two young children aged three and 10.

In response, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Selene Yap said that Chin's financial state when he committed the offences was “not an excuse for him to cheat, just because he was himself cheated”.

“He will know full well how much anguish it will put the victims in,” DPP Yap added.

Chin has made restitution of S$3,650 to his ex-girlfriend, with Ms Neo saying that he is prepared to pay both victims back in full, though it may take some time.

For each cheating offence, Chin could have been jailed up to 10 years and fined.