SINGAPORE – A former financial consultant was sentenced to three years and 11 months’ jail on Monday after he used fictitious investment opportunities to cheat 25 people.
Ong Ka Yong, 36, who received bank transfers from them totalling $1,275,500 to his account, had pleaded guilty to 11 counts of cheating in August.
Fourteen other similar charges were considered during sentencing.
Ong, who used to work at Manulife Financial Advisors and Beyond Consultancy, ran his scheme for more than a year from April 2020 until he turned himself in.
He made a police report on Oct 20, 2021, stating that he had breached the trust of multiple people, including his friends and clients.
Ong, who is also known as Aeden Ong, approached one of his clients on Aug 24, 2020, telling her of an investment bond purportedly offered only to Manulife employees, and claiming that he would extend it to her by using his employee code.
He told her that if she invested $5,000, she would receive a dividend payout of $187.50 every month for six months, with her capital guaranteed.
She transferred $5,000 to Ong, and received the promised payouts totalling $1,125, as well as her capital, six months later.
In earlier proceedings, Deputy Public Prosecutor Pavithra Ramkumar said the bond was fictitious, and Ong had instead wanted to invest the woman’s money in foreign exchange trading.
He approached her again on April 23, 2021, and asked her to invest in the same fictitious bond. She transferred $5,000 to him and later received four payouts totalling $750.
On Sept 18, 2021, Ong approached her with another fictitious investment opportunity, claiming that if she put in $5,000 for two weeks, she would receive a payout of $375, with capital guaranteed.
She transferred another $5,000 to him but did not get any payouts and her capital back, losing $8,125 in total, according to court documents.
Ong duped other people using a similar method.
He paid out $267,856 as “dividends and capital returns” on their “investments” in all, but has made no restitution for the remaining $1,007,644, the prosecution said.
For each count of cheating, an offender can be jailed for up to three years and fined.
