SINGAPORE – A woman who hatched a plan to obtain loans from others by using branded handbags as collateral managed to cheat multiple victims of $436,300 in total.

But Thai national Tangngam Nonthacha, 35, had no intention of repaying the loans or using the bags as collateral.

On Thursday, she was sentenced to three years and nine months’ jail after she pleaded guilty to 24 charges of cheating, involving $102,300.

Another 178 charges of cheating, linked to the remaining amount, were considered during sentencing.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Tay Zhi Jie told the court that Tangngam came to Singapore and got married in 2009. Details about the man she married were not disclosed in court documents.

In 2015, she suffered losses from a failed hawker business and went on to work at a Thai discotheque, earning about $2,000 to $2,500 a month.

Her marriage later broke down, and the couple divorced. Tangngam moved away from her former husband and rented a room for herself. Her former husband then took care of their three children.

Around 2018, Tangngam ran into financial trouble as she had to settle multiple expenses, including her rent of $1,200 a month. She also gave her children $500 to $1,000 monthly.

She later hatched a plan to cheat others of cash.

DPP Tay said: “The accused advertised her loans on social media platform Facebook by posting a photograph of a branded handbag and stating the loan amount as well as repayment amount – being loan amount plus interest – in the same post.

“The accused had no intention to repay the advertised loan or to use the advertised branded handbag as a collateral for the loan.”

According to court documents, Tangngam was not earning enough to repay the loans when she posted the advertisements.

She also did not have most of the advertised handbags in her possession.

Instead, she had used photographs of branded handbags which she found on e-commerce platform Carousell to create her advertisements.

The prosecutor added: “The accused specifically chose to use branded handbags as collateral in her scheme because she knew that, in general, Thai ladies had a liking for branded handbags.”

Between 2018 and 2019, 24 victims – all of them Thai nationals in Singapore – chanced upon Tangngam’s Facebook loan advertisements and became interested in lending money to her.

Tangngam then cheated them of $102,300.

Court documents did not disclose how her offences came to light, but she was charged in court in 2022.

During investigations, Tangngam claimed to have made partial repayment of $217,500 to the victims, as interest and capital repayment for her purported loans.

Investigations confirmed that 14 victims received at least $78,400 from her.

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