A former property agent was on Thursday jailed for two years by a district court for his part in a rental scam that targeted foreign nationals. 41-year-old Jim Tan Kuan Hui, who was unrepresented, pleaded guilty to three charges which involved some S$14,000. Five other similar cheating charges -- also involving foreign nationals -- were taken into consideration during sentencing. Tan also admitted to...
Rental Scams
A 41-year-old man, believed to be involved in at least five rental scams has surrendered himself to the police and arrested. On Tuesday, the police had appealed for information on the man, identified as Dennis Ang Beng Kiat to assist with investigations. In all these cases, the victims responded to flat rental advertisements placed in the newspapers. The suspect, who was the owner of the flat, arranged...
Police are looking for a man whom they believe can help them with their investigations into a series of flat rental scams reported at Blk 123 Rivervale Drive. The man was identified as Dennis Ang Beng Kiat who's in his 40s. He is slim-built and about 1.7 metres tall. Police said at least three cases have been reported since November last year. The victims had responded to flat rental advertisements...
Police have arrested a 45-year-old man who is believed to have been involved in at least 13 reports of rental scam at Block 1 Lorong Lew Lian. In all the cases, the 21 victims responded to rental advertisements placed in the Chinese newspapers between March 4 and 29 this year. The suspect allegedly arranged for the victims to view the unit for rent and collected between S$500 and S$4,800 from them as...
Police have arrested a 41-year-old man and his 43-year-old female accomplice who are believed to be involved in at least two cases of rental scams. Their victims were cheated of advance rental payments and deposits amounting to about S$2,600. Police said their investigations revealed that since early November, the male suspect had advertised his flat for rent on the Internet and newspaper. Unsuspecting...
Police have arrested a 43-year-old man who is believed to be involved in several cases of rental scams involving camera and event equipment. The man, named "K Saravanan" in reports filed by the complainants, failed to return cameras and event equipment he had rented after paying a small deposit. The suspect was arrested in York Hill on Monday afternoon. Preliminary investigations revealed that he is...
A man was sentenced to 16 months' jail in a district court on Monday for cheating four China nationals of S$10,700 in rental fees. Ivan Tey, who is 35, owns a four-room flat in Jurong West. Although he had rented the flat to other tenants, he approached different housing agents in October and November last year to look for prospective tenants to rent the flat to. He found four different tenants and...
Self-styled property investor Calisa Cheong Mei Ing was back in court on Tuesday after having her mitigation plea rejected last year. In remand since July last year, Cheong faces 74 counts of cheating tenants of rent money and obtaining credit as an undischarged bankrupt. When she appeared in the subordinate courts last October, the 40-year-old told the court she had wanted to plead guilty so as to fast...
HE APPARENTLY preyed on unsuspecting tenants in search of rental units. Over a period of 10 months, he was said to have cheated them of more than $100,000 in more than 50 cases island-wide. On the run since last year, the 33-year-old unemployed man was arrested in a stake out early yesterday. According to preliminary police investigations, between April last year and last month, he had collected advance...
Ruses are now rife; foreign nationals the main targets WHEN factory worker Zhang Wenfang and his five friends found a five-room Housing & Development Board (HDB) flat in Jurong West that they liked, they paid the property agent $9,300 - six months' rent. But, when they tried to move into the flat on July 1, they found it locked. "We had trouble contacting our agent; he didn't return our calls. I...