SINGAPORE — Exploiting the kindness of strangers he approached at various train stations, Byron Yeaw Li Xun managed to cheat them of around S$17,000 by giving excuses such as having sickly parents. 

Yeaw, 27, was sentenced on Tuesday (Sept 5) to 14 months’ jail for his cheating offences, along with 46 days’ jail for breaching a remission order. 

He pleaded guilty to four charges of cheating. Three other charges were taken into consideration for sentencing. 

Yeaw offended less than three months after being granted remission while serving a jail term for similar offences.

WHAT HAPPENED

On Jan 13, Yeaw met his first victim, Mr Eugene Tan, 23, at the Bishan MRT station. 

Yeaw approached Mr Tan and asked for a loan of S$3,000, lying that he needed the money to “pay his outstanding bills and transport expenses”.

He also promised Mr Tan that he would pay back the loan in monthly instalments with an additional S$200.

Agreeing, Tan went to an automated teller machine (ATM) at the station to withdraw the cash and pass it to Yeaw. 

Two days later, the pair met again — this time at Buangkok MRT station as Yeaw had insisted on meeting Mr Tan, who gave him another S$3,000 as Yeaw said that he needed more money to pay his bills.

Court documents stated that Yeaw had intended to use the money for gambling and later lost all of it. 

Mr Tan lodged a police report on the same day. 

Yeaw met his second victim — Mr Alvin Yu, 22, a month later on Feb 1 at Paya Lebar MRT station. 

Yeow said that he needed a loan because of his “family issues”. Yeaw had struck a conversation with Mr Yu and asked him to lend him S$5,000. 

Two days later, Mr Yu transferred another S$4,000 via PayNow to Yeaw as the latter claimed that he needed more money because of his “family issues”. 

He also transferred him more money on another two occasions. 

Using the same modus operandi, Yeaw approached his third victim, Mr Jerry Wong, 21, at Tanah Merah MRT station a few weeks later. 

This time, Yeaw lied that he needed a loan of S$2,000 as his parents were "severely ill". He also promised to repay the money within a month. 

Taking pity on Yeaw, Mr Wong agreed to give him a loan and transferred the money by PayNow. 

However, Yeaw became uncontactable a month later and Mr Wong lodged a police report. 

This is not Yeaw's first time carrying out such acts. In September 2022, he was sentenced to one year's jail for similar offences. 

He cheated 78 victims, many of whom were students, and convinced them that he was in a rush and needed money to get somewhere.

He cheated them of around S$28,000 in total to cover his purported transport and living expenses.

After his release, he was placed placed under a remission order from Oct 31 last year to Feb 27 this year.

One condition of the order is that he does not reoffend during the period.

Those convicted of cheating can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.