• De Beers Wong Tian Jun pleaded guilty to 10 charges including cheating and criminal intimidation
• He tricked 11 women by claiming he had wealthy clients who would pay them for sexual services
• Wong claimed the “sugar daddies” would pay up to S$20,000 a month
• He got them to give him free sex and nude photos, by claiming he needed to evaluate the women for his clients

SINGAPORE — When De Beers Wong Tian Jun realised he could not afford the prices listed in online sex advertisements, he claimed to be a freelance agent who could get wealthy clients to pay escorts up to S$20,000 a month for sexual services.

After women responded to his advertisement, he told them they had to send him their nude photographs, have their nude photos taken, or have sex with him. He also filmed some of the acts.

Wong lied that this was necessary for the clients to evaluate the escorts’ suitability for the “sugar daddy” arrangements. In all, he deceived at least 11 victims aged between 18 and 24.

When two of them tried to sever ties with him, he threatened to spread their nude photos or videos unless they had sex with him again.

On Thursday (March 18), the 39-year-old Singaporean pleaded guilty to 10 charges of cheating, criminal intimidation and making an obscene film. District Judge John Ng will consider another 25 charges during sentencing on April 20.

The court heard that Wong hatched his plan in 2015. He advertised for “sugar babes” — paid escorts who also provided sexual services to “sugar daddies” for money — on classified ads site Locanto.

From April 2015 to January 2016, he falsely represented to his victims that he was a “freelance agent” who could provide “sugar babes to his well-to-do clients”, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Cheng Yuxi told the court.

In order to pique their interest, Wong told them he had clients who could pay S$8,000 to S$20,000 a month.

He also created chat conversations purportedly between himself and his non-existent clients.

ONE VICTIM HAD ANXIETY ATTACKS

Court documents detailed what five victims went through. None of them can be named due to court gag orders to protect their identities.

One of them, then aged 24, responded to Wong’s advertisement in October 2015. He introduced himself as Kel and said she could earn a minimum of S$10,000 to S$20,000 per month.

When she expressed reluctance to send him nude photos of herself, he told her: “All my girls take skimpy pics so you will be on a losing end.” She then sent him two photos.

He then lied that he needed to meet her to have a photoshoot, and also have sex so he could rate her performance to his clients. Those who refuse would “have to settle” for low-paying clients, he added.

She agreed to meet him after he said a potential client had paid his last sugar babe S$16,000.

After their meeting in a room at Hotel 81 Kovan, she experienced anxiety attacks triggered by memories of the incident, occasionally accompanied by shortness of breath, headaches, nausea and giddiness.

She also began having sleeping problems and nightmares. She was later diagnosed with adjustment disorder with anxiety.

Wong continued trying to persuade her to meet a second time. He lied that his mobile phone had crashed and he lost all the nude photos he took of her, and when she did not respond, he said he would introduce another sugar babe to the client.

When she asked him to delete the nude photos she previously sent him, he lied that he had. She eventually told him she could not continue with the job and stopped replying to his messages.

A few months later, in January 2016, she asked him to delete them again but he agreed to do so only if she provided sexual services to him.

She said she was doing him a favour by not going to the police, to which Wong replied: “Now I have to pass your photos to my friends in case anything happens to me they will use the photos as they wish.”

Feeling afraid, she lodged a police report against him.

Two other victims who allowed him to take their nude photos later “experienced fear and paranoia” that he would leak the photos, DPP Cheng said.

Another blamed herself for responding to Wong and did not lodge a police report, afraid that he would sell her photos.

OFFENCES ‘CLEARLY PREMEDITATED’

DPPs Cheng and Tan Pei Wei sought at least two-and-a-half years’ jail for Wong, noting that he committed the offences over 10 months in a “clearly premeditated” fashion to satisfy his own sexual desires.

He had used pseudonyms when interacting with the victims and came up with various excuses to get more free sex, the prosecutors added.

Wong’s lawyer Genesa Tan said that he had been diagnosed with “adjustment disorder”, with a psychiatrist noting it had significantly contributed to his offences.

He had since gone for counselling sessions and taken “conscientious steps to become a better person”, having stayed crime-free for the last six years, the lawyer added.

She told the court that last month, he suffered a stroke due to the “acute stress and mental fatigue” he suffered from the current proceedings. Ms Tan also argued that the victims had the opportunity to reject him.

DPP Cheng responded that Wong had started the scheme and the victims tried to get out, but he made up various excuses.

For each cheating charge, he could be jailed for up to three years or fined, or punished with both.

For criminal intimidation, he could be jailed for up to two years or fined, or both.