Jail for fake social worker who duped couple into signing up for phone lines for illegal moneylender

SINGAPORE – A man posed as a social worker to dupe an elderly couple into signing up for mobile phone lines which an illegal moneylender later used.

July Izaak, 31, had acted on the unnamed moneylender’s instructions after borrowing an undisclosed amount of cash from the latter but failing to repay the loan.

Separately, July also molested a woman and allowed scam proceeds totalling more than $1 million to be deposited into a bank account for a company he registered.

He received $2,800 for relinquishing items such as his bank accounts to others.

On Jan 6, the Singaporean offender was sentenced to a year, three months and three weeks’ jail and fined $32,800.

He had pleaded guilty to multiple charges, for offences including molestation and misusing a computer system.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Gabriel Gan told the court that July took a loan from the moneylender in July 2019.

July told investigators that the moneylender harassed him when he failed to settle his debt.

He later took instructions from the moneylender, posed as a representative of the Singapore Indian Development Association (Sinda) and pretended to offer “packing jobs” to residents in an undisclosed neighbourhood.

Posing as a Sinda representative, July went to a Housing Board flat on or around July 16 that year.

He told a 60-year-old man and his wife that he was there to “assist the elderly to earn money”.

July also claimed that the man could earn $100 a day by working as a packer and would receive a parcel at the flat.

The man accepted the bogus offer, and July snapped pictures of the couple’s identity cards.

July also told the couple to sign a form, which he claimed was a “contract for the work”.

Several days later, the man received two parcels containing items, including an iPhone.

He contacted July, who collected the parcels and passed their contents to the moneylender.

The older man later made a police report after receiving outstanding telephone bills for undisclosed amounts from telco Singtel.

July was arrested on March 4, 2020, and was released the next day.

In an unrelated case, he opened a corporate bank account for a company called The Branding Market, which he registered on or before March 1, 2023.

He then shared the account information, such as its log-in credentials, with a person who was also not identified in court documents.

The account was later used to receive over $1 million in scam proceeds from nine victims.

Court documents did not disclose what happened next but July was arrested on May 24 that year, charged in court two days later and remanded.

After he was released from remand, he reoffended when he molested a 31-year-old woman in Bayfront Avenue on Jan 1, 2024.

He was arrested that same day but absconded soon after. He was caught yet again on Sept 3 the same year and has been in remand since.