SINGAPORE - Jover Chew, the owner of Mobile Air who has been arrested for a series of cheating cases at Sim Lim Square, had been assisting police with investigations for months, reports said on Thursday.

Chew and four other men linked to the now-defunct Mobile Air were arrested on Wednesday for a series of cheating cases in Sim Lim Square.

He was having breakfast with his mother on Wednesday when he received a call from the police to report to them at 3pm, his mother, identified only as Madam Chew, told Shin Min Daily News.

"I even reminded him not to be late," Madam Chew said. "Later, he called me and said he had to stay at the police station for 48 hours."

He also sent his mother an SMS informing her that his hearing will be on Friday morning.

Madam Chew said the police had summoned her son before, so the arrest was unexpected. "He and the others have been asked to assist with investigations many times in the past half year," she said.

She also told Lianhe Wanbao that Chew has been unemployed for five months, but he helped her at her hawker stall occasionally.

"I told him not to come. I'm not worried how others view us, but I don't want to rake up the past," she said.

Chew, 32, shot to infamy overnight in November last year when a video of a Vietnamese tourist begging him to return him his money went viral.

The tourist had paid $950 for an iPhone 6, but was told by Mobile Air staff that he had to pay $1,500 more in warranty fees or lose both the mobile phone and his cash.

Chew was targeted by online vigilantes who made his personal details public.

His mother said that the family advised him to lie low, and not look for a job. Since then, he has spent quite a lot of time fishing, she said.

"I hope this dies down, and I hope the online video is deleted, or it will be very hard for him to find a job," she said.

His wife Winnie Koh, 31, told reporters she could not comment on Chew's affairs as they had separated.