Jail for man who duped 5 victims of over $6k in rental scam

SINGAPORE – A man who cheated five people of more than $6,000 in a rental scam, after he saw a Facebook post about a woman duped in a similar ruse, was sentenced to a year and eight months’ jail on Nov 26.

In 2023 and 2024, Lee Wei Jie, 27, cheated each victim of between $400 and $2,200 after claiming that a room in his Punggol home was available for rent, though he had no intention to lease it.

On Sept 26, he pleaded guilty to five counts of cheating and two charges involving the misuse of computer systems.

In earlier proceedings, Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Shi Yun told the court that Lee decided to carry out a rental scam after he came across a Facebook post on a similar ruse in late March 2023.

He sent private messages to the members of a Facebook group who were looking for places to rent.

On April 14, 2023, one of the victims viewed the room that was purportedly available for rent, and she later transferred $550 for “rental deposit” to Lee’s bank account.

The pair then agreed that she could move in a week later.

But a day before the move-in date, Lee told the woman she could move in only on May 1 that year.

When the day arrived, Lee told her that he no longer wanted to rent out the room and promised to refund her the $550.

However, he did not return the amount to her, and went on to cheat four more victims by using a similar method.

In an unrelated case, an unknown Telegram user told Lee in 2021 that he would be given regular payments of $300 in exchange for details linked to his bank account.

Lee shared such details with the Telegram user, and the authorities later froze the account after it was found to be linked to multiple police reports involving at least $15,000 in scam proceeds.

By then, most of the monies had been transferred out and only 29 cents remained.

In 2022, an unknown Telegram user offered Lee $1,000 to use his Singpass account for a week. He accepted the offer but did not receive the money.

Instead, Lee’s details were used to open another bank account without his knowledge, and it was later found to be linked to at least $2,800 in scam proceeds.