SINGAPORE -Claiming he had RM14 million in a bank account in Malaysia, a man duped his girlfriend into transferring various sums to him by promising her $100,000 if she followed his instructions.

Jason Chin, 47, was sentenced to 32 months’ jail on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to 14 charges of cheating. Twenty-six other charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.

The court heard that Chin met his girlfriend, Ms Bong Siew Fung, now 43, in 2005 on social network website Friendster. He also became acquainted with her brother, Mr Bong Kuet Fah.

On Tuesday, Chin’s defence lawyer, Ms Charmaine Neo from Forte Law, said her client lost his job in 2007, the same year his mother was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. 

In April 2009, Chin told Ms Bong he would be flying to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia to settle a fund transfer. The Singaporean lied that he was fined RM50,000 by the Malaysian authorities for failing to account for the fund transfer and asked her to send him $11,450 to help pay the fine.

When she started to question his claims, he created a fictitious persona online called “Jolie” and introduced her as his cousin to Ms Bong and her brother.

“Jolie” claimed that in July that year, Chin infringed an “Anti-Money Laundering Act” by transferring funds from Australia and Malaysia, and was fined A$10,000. As a result, Ms Bong transferred $11,300 to him. It was not revealed in court why she did so.

“Jolie” also told Ms Bong that Chin would have to pay a $50,000 fine to the Monetary Authority of Singapore or his funds would be frozen, which led Ms Bong to transfer another $12,100 to him.

In September 2009, Chin claimed “Jolie” had been arrested by the Malaysian police for stealing RM50,000 from a company and that the company would let the matter rest if it received the full amount back. Ms Bong then transferred $7,800 to him.

When Ms Bong ran out of money, Chin asked her brother for money for various reasons.

In November 2010, Chin deceived Mr Bong by claiming a deputy public prosecutor had detained him and a security deposit was required for his release.

Chin told Mr Bong in December 2010 that the prosecutor had increased the security deposit from $20,000 to $30,000. Mr Bong gave Chin $5,850 after hearing this.

In total, Chin cheated Ms Bong and her brother out of $181,500. While some of these funds went towards supporting himself and his mother, Chin put $45,000 in an investment scam in China.  

Deputy Public Prosecutor Selene Yap asked for a jail term of between 30 and 38 months, saying Chin had abused the trust that Ms Bong and her brother had placed in him. 

She added: “There was no excuse to cheat the victims… Just because you are in a bad financial state doesn’t give you the right to put them in the same state as you.”

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