Jail for scammer who claimed he developed AI investment software and cheated 14 victims of over $122k

SINGAPORE - A man cheated 14 victims of more than $122,000 in total after he got them to invest in “schemes” that purportedly involved artificial intelligence stocks, cryptocurrency, gold and business acquisitions.

Josh Zhuang Zihui, 24, also claimed that he had developed an AI software to optimise his “investments”.

But all these claims turned out to be false, and he was sentenced to a year and 10 months’ jail on Feb 5 after he pleaded guilty to seven counts of cheating.

Twelve other similar charges were considered during his sentencing.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Janessa Phua said that Zhuang used his ill-gotten gains for his personal expenses and to buy gifts for live streamers.

Zhuang committed the offences between November 2022 and April 2024, after hatching a plan to cheat his acquaintances of their money.

He told the victims that he was running lucrative investment schemes.

However, he had no knowledge of investments and had no intention of investing the capital collected from the victims.

The DPP said: “The accused downloaded a portfolio tracking application and manipulated the data of the… application, to create the impression that he had a legitimate investment portfolio.

“He would then take screenshots of his investment portfolio and send them to his victims.”

Zhuang would also periodically update the victims about the purported returns from their investments.

To deceive the victims into believing that the schemes were genuine, he paid some of them the purported returns from their investments using the capital collected from other victims.

This was done to induce the victims to either reinvest their returns or make further investments.

After handing two of his victims more than $12,000 as “investment returns”, Zhuang caused losses totalling over $110,000. He has made no restitution.

Among other things, he lied to a 22-year-old man that he was investing in AI and was “acquiring assets from bankrupt firms”.

He promised the man a 20 per cent return on investment. Believing Zhuang, the man transferred a total of $14,000 to him over five occasions between May 2023 and January 2024.

The court heard that Zhuang used a similar method to cheat his other victims.

In May 2024, the victims realised that he was unable to pay them their purported returns. The police were alerted and officers arrested him on May 10, 2024.

On Feb 5, DPP Phua urged the court to sentence Zhuang to two years and a month in jail, adding: “The accused was motivated by the desire for wrongful gain. The offences were committed in a sophisticated and calculated manner, and were difficult to detect.”

Defence lawyer Riko Isaac from Amolat & Partners, however, pleaded for his client to be given a year and six months’ jail.

He said: “Josh is painfully aware of the financial loss and hardship he has caused to the victims because of his involvement in the offences. He deeply regrets (that he had allowed) his greed for quick money to cloud his judgment.”

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