33 months’ jail for mother of three who cheated 18 victims of nearly $277k in total

SINGAPORE – A mother of three was sentenced to two years and nine months’ jail on Oct 1 after she cheated 18 victims, including her friends and colleagues, of nearly $277,000 in total.

Tiang Kim Hua’s ruse involved the purported sale of devices such as iPhones. She committed all her offences between September and December 2022.

The Singaporean had used some of her ill-gotten gains to cover her gambling debts, and she re-offended while she was under investigation from Oct 9 that year.

Tiang, 40, who worked at a logistics firm, had

pleaded guilty in September to five cheating charges involving five people and more than $230,000

. Fourteen other charges relating to the other victims and the remaining amount were considered during her sentencing.

She has since made a partial restitution of more than $38,000 to 13 victims.

In earlier proceedings, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Wayde Chan told the court that Tiang had targeted her friends, the friends of her friends, her colleagues, and buyers on online marketplace Carousell.

She did so by either duping them into paying for electronic products she did not have, or by telling them that she had deals to make “fast cash” – claiming to offer iPhones at below the market value before reselling them to others for profit.

The DPP told the court in September: “In actuality, the accused had no way of delivering the items she represented that she could obtain and/or resell.

“She also used some of the monies to fulfil some initial orders from customers on Carousell, to gain their trust that she was a legitimate seller.”

Tiang had cheated a 40-year-old man of the largest amount – nearly $159,000.

In July 2022, he bought a pair of headphones from Tiang for $308 through Carousell, and there were no issues with this transaction.

The following month, she contacted him to ask if he or any of his friends were interested in buying electronic gadgets, including iPhones, claiming that she could give him discounts.

He later paid her nearly $159,000 in total for items including 114 iPhones and an Apple watch. None of the items were delivered, but Tiang has since returned nearly $25,000 to him.

She went on to cheat more people, and seven of them alerted the police in early October 2022.

The authorities managed to track Tiang down, and she went to a police station for an investigation on Oct 9 that year. Tiang left the station and was still under investigation when she re-offended multiple times.

One of the victims was a 34-year-old male colleague who was cheated of more than $24,000. Tiang has since returned $3,500 to him.

Police arrested her in February 2023, and she was charged in court soon after.

For each count of cheating, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.