In a bid to pay off his growing gambling debts, a former DBS Bank wealth planning manager cheated four people of more than $400,000.

Marcus Loh Thim Mun, 31, was sentenced to 33 months' jail yesterday. He had earlier pleaded guilty to five charges, including three of cheating.

Court documents state that some time around October 2018, Loh decided to obtain funds from his clients to settle his gambling debts.

He told two of his victims that they could place a fixed deposit with DBS, earning a higher interest than they typically would from savings accounts.

He met one of them, a 56-year-old woman, on Oct 24, 2018, and asked her to log in to her bank account using his DBS-issued iPad.

The victim then left it to Loh to place a fixed deposit for her. But he transferred $50,000 from her bank account to his own account instead.

On Oct 31, 2018, Loh met the other victim, a 60-year-old woman. He asked her to log in to her bank account using his iPad and gave her detailed instructions, which resulted in the woman transferring $250,000 to his bank account.

Loh lied to a third victim, a 50-year-old man, about a supposed DBS share ownership scheme which was exclusive to the bank's employees.

Saying he wanted to help the victim participate in the scheme, Loh told the man to transfer money to his bank account first. He said DBS would issue a letter guaranteeing the money used.

The victim later transferred $20,000 to him. Loh gave the man a letter allegedly from DBS which he had forged using the bank's letterhead and stamp.

Loh met the last victim, a 34-year-old woman, at a DBS branch on Nov 13, 2018. Pretending to assist the woman in placing a fixed deposit of $100,000 with the bank, Loh instead transferred the sum to his personal account. As the victim could not view the details of her supposed fixed deposit, she asked Loh about the transaction. Loh replied that there was a system delay, and the woman left the DBS branch.

He later transferred $50,000 back to her for unknown reasons, court documents state.

On Nov 15, 2018, the woman asked Loh again why she could not view the details of her fixed deposit.

She then sought clarification at another DBS branch and was informed that DBS did not have any records of the fixed deposit being placed. A police report was lodged the next day.

Loh has since made full restitution to DBS, which had compensated all his victims.

Yesterday, the court granted Loh's request to defer his sentence to Jan 18 so that he can settle some personal matters.