SINGAPORE — Prosecutors called for three months’ jail on Tuesday (July 16) for a woman who tricked a scammer by pocketing his money, but ended up falling prey to other fraudsters herself.

On the other hand, Christina Cheong’s lawyer, Mr Aaron Lee, argued that his client should be sentenced instead to an 18-month mandatory treatment order — a community sentencing option offered to offenders suffering from mental conditions that contributed to the offence.

A psychiatrist’s report from the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) noted that the 63-year-old divorcee had suffered from major depressive disorder of mild severity at the time of her offences in 2017.

She pleaded guilty in May to one charge of dishonest misappropriation of property.

In their sentencing submissions to District Judge Ng Peng Hong, Deputy Public Prosecutors (DPPs) Leong Wing Tuck and Eugene Phua said that Cheong’s actions were “deliberate and calculated”.

They also said that the facts showed she was “a manipulative offender who put out lies when it suited her situation”.

Cheong, a part-time English teacher, got to know a scammer identified only as Collins. He wanted to trick her into moving S$50,000 for him from Singapore to Malaysia so that the money could not be traced back to him.

When Cheong took the money for herself, she transferred it to other fraudsters, including one with whom she was in love.

DPP Leong told the court on Tuesday that Cheong’s psychiatric condition was “not so serious and aggrieved that it contributed to her offences in a significant way”.

“She was at the steering wheel; she knew where it was leading... What we see is an individual playing around, manipulating the situation as much as the party on the other side was manipulating, moving in on the deal,” the prosecutor added.

Mr Lee, Cheong's lawyer, told the court that she went looking for love because of a failed marriage, but found a fraudster instead.

Responding to DPP Leong’s arguments, he said that Cheong satisfied the following conditions of major depressive disorder: Self-reported low mood, inability to feel pleasure, and passive suicidal ideation. The last point was “fairly serious”, he added.

Rather than deterrence, the primary sentencing consideration should be rehabilitation, Mr Lee argued. Imprisonment would separate her from her community and family, who are helping her to recover.

The psychiatrist from IMH had also recommended that Cheong undergo a mandatory treatment order.

Mr Lee said: “She was a victim of at least four of such scams, contributed unfortunately by her disorder. Her current situation now — she has made full restitution, is contributing to society, feeding herself.

“She is now in a very good, friendly, familial environment with a cousin who has undertaken to mentor and foster her,” he added.

Sentencing was adjourned to Aug 22. Cheong remains out on S$25,000 bail.

THE CASE

In early August 2017, Cheong got to know Collins through an online dating application. She lied to him that she was in debt and had lost everything, and Collins replied that he loved her and wanted to help.

That month, he suggested an arrangement for money to be deposited into her account, which involved his "boss' associates", and she could withdraw it and take it to Johor Baru with their help.

Unknown to her, Collins was a scammer himself, and was trying to cheat another Singaporean woman through an online love scam. He told the other woman to transfer about S$50,000 to Cheong’s DBS bank account.

Cheong has since made full restitution to her.

After the woman transferred the sum into Cheong's account, Collins then told Cheong to withdraw the money. He said that one of his boss’ associates would call her and take the money from her.

He also asked Cheong for details of her second bank account, so that his boss could transfer S$26,000 to her and give her S$1,000 from the transaction. About 10 days later, after ignoring his repeated queries and instructions, she blocked him on the phone.

She ended up using part of the S$50,000 for her own expenses, but was ultimately tricked by other scammers.

One of them, identified only as Mark Anthony, was a man with whom Cheong was in love.

Mark Anthony told Cheong that he was being detained by the Malaysian authorities for having too much money, and that an immigration officer, known only as Jasmin, could help him. On Jasmin's instructions, Cheong transferred S$31,000 to a Malaysian CIMB bank account.

In another instance, Cheong also transferred S$19,000 to various foreign bank accounts. A scammer called Chong Lee told her to do this, having promised to give Cheong S$800,000 for her help as part of an inheritance scam.