• Daryl Cheong Zhi Yong bought gold jewellery and a Rolex watch with the money
• He gave some of the jewellery to one of his girlfriends and a close friend
• He repeatedly lied to the police even after he was caught
• He has previously been jailed and caned over a similar cheating offence

SINGAPORE — Taking advantage of an increase in demand for surgical face masks amid the Covid-19 pandemic, a 28-year-old odd-job worker lied that he had large quantities of them for sale on e-marketplace Carousell.

One buyer even handed over S$175,000 in S$1,000 bills as a deposit for 500 cartons of masks. 

However, Daryl Cheong Zhi Yong eventually became uncontactable. He used S$7,080 of the cash to buy a Rolex watch and gold jewellery.

On Monday (July 27), he was sentenced to three years and two months’ jail for cheating S$185,260 in total from his victims.

The Singaporean pleaded guilty to two cheating charges and another four under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act. Ten similar charges were considered for sentencing.

The court heard that on Feb 12, one of Cheong’s victims chanced upon his Carousell account where he offered surgical face masks for sale.

At the time, the victim was sourcing for suppliers after deciding to be a middleman for a safety equipment supplier.

Cheong told him that he could collect a ready supply of masks from Malaysia. Cheong also said the order was one of five large ones that he was handling.

The victim asked if he could settle payment in cash when the masks were delivered, but Cheong insisted on an upfront cash deposit.

When they began communicating on WhatsApp, Cheong said his name was Lester Wong. The victim then agreed to pay S$400,000 for 500 cartons of masks, with S$175,000 to be paid upfront in cash.

They met on Feb 13, and the victim withdrew S$175,000 from a DBS branch in Jurong Point and gave the cash to Cheong.

When the victim asked Cheong for his particulars, the latter handed over an expired Malaysian driving licence that he had previously found in the Hougang flat he shared with one of his girlfriends.

The victim took a photograph of the licence and of Cheong before heading home. However, he then realised that the licence holder’s surname was “Goh” and not “Wong”.

Sensing something was amiss, the victim called Cheong. 

Cheong explained that the person who had showed up for the meeting earlier was his cousin and not him, then told the victim to meet him again the next morning to collect the masks.

After Cheong failed to turn up at the agreed meeting point, the victim lodged a police report.

GAVE GIRLFRIENDS JEWELLERY

The day that both men began speaking over Carousell, Cheong told his close friend, Ms Lim Poh Yen, as well as one of his girlfriends, Ms Goh Li En, that he was expecting to close the deal.

After the victim gave him the cash, Cheong met both women at Ms Lim’s home. 

They helped him to arrange the bills in stacks of S$10,000 and Cheong asked Ms Lim to keep S$30,000 for him.

Both of them then went to a Serangoon pawnshop, where he bought a Rolex Champagne Computer Diamond Dial watch for S$7,080.

Cheong went over to Ms Goh’s flat later that evening. She told him not to carry so much cash on him, so he handed S$106,000 in a bag to her for safekeeping.

This sum comprised S$100,000 from the victim, as well as 120 pieces of S$50 bills that Cheong claimed he had received from other Carousell buyers for masks.

That evening, Cheong and both women went to a Geylang jewellery shop.

He bought six gold rings, a gold bangle, a gold bracelet, two gold necklaces and a gold pendant with the victim’s money. 

He gave a ring and bangle to Ms Lim, as well as a ring and necklace to Ms Goh, before keeping the remaining items.

All the items have since been seized by the police.

CHEATED ANOTHER VICTIM

The court also heard that a few days before, on Feb 9, Cheong had cheated another victim out of S$7,500 when she expressed interest in buying 12 cartons of masks.

She had also come across his Carousell account. She said she wanted to buy six cartons at first, but he told her he could get 20 more cartons and so she doubled her order for a total price of S$11,000.

She paid the deposit by bank transfers to the account of another of Cheong’s girlfriends between Feb 10 and 12, but he then became uncontactable.

Cheong was arrested on Feb 14. 

He maintained to the police in his first three statements that he had an Indonesian supplier for the masks, and that he had given most of the cash from his first victim to an unknown person called James who worked for this supplier.

He only admitted to lying on Feb 19, when he was confronted with evidence of the cash and property seized by the police.

Even then, he continued to lie about where he had hid the criminal proceeds until police took a fifth statement from him on Feb 20.

He has made no restitution.

Prosecutors revealed that he was jailed for two years and given three strokes of the cane in 2017 for similar cheating offences.

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

CORRECTION: In an earlier version of the story, we reported that Cheong had cheated face mask buyers of S$205,260. This was incorrect. He had cheated them of S$185,000, while cheating another man of the remaining S$20,000 through a telco scam. We are sorry for the error.