Man jailed for offences including snatch theft and cheating others of $700k

SINGAPORE – A conman’s victims included an architect whom he met on a dating website and a business development manager whose money was snatched away by him.

Andrew Lim Zi Kai, 31, who has been jobless since around 2018 or 2019, committed multiple offences involving nearly $700,000 in total and they included cheating and snatch theft.

On Friday, he was sentenced to five years and 10 months’ jail after pleading guilty to nine charges, including multiple counts of cheating. Twenty other charges were considered during sentencing.

The architect transferred $271,000 to him from May 1 to June 5, 2020 after Lim told her about his purported face-mask business.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Yvonne Poon said he met the 29-year-old woman in May 2020 through a dating website.

“He told her that, for an upcoming transaction, he needed $14,000 to purchase the goods and sell them to (a hospice), whereupon she would receive $15,000. The victim transferred the sums on the spot, and received the promised return a few hours later,” the DPP added.

The architect continued to transfer him more cash soon after. To date, she has received $25,000 in return.

On July 13, 2020, Lim told her that he needed $60,000 for a car business.

She arranged for her partner to pass him $10,000 in cash while she transferred the remaining $50,000 to a bank account. Details about the partner were not disclosed in court documents.

Three days later, Lim met the woman and her partner to tell them that he had used their monies for other purposes.

The DPP told the court: “(Lim said) his father had found this out and suspected that the accused had used his father’s money on other avenues, and was threatening to pull out of the car business unless he could see his monies intact.”

Desperate, the architect scraped together $10,000 and transferred it to a bank account. She also got her partner to hand over his luxury watches and physical assets as he had no more money.

This was because she did not want to lose the sums they had pumped into the deal.

Lim later pawned some of the valuables but the amount he received was not disclosed in court documents.

The architect later sensed that something was amiss and alerted the police on July 23, 2020.

Through other investment scams, Lim also cheated other victims in 2020.

He met a 47-year-old business development manager on Dec 12, 2020 after telling the man that he wanted to sell some cryptocurrencies.

The victim drove his car to Syed Alwi Road near Jalan Besar and Lim entered the vehicle at around 12.30am.

The manager then took out $30,000 before both men alighted and went to the boot of the vehicle for the victim to show Lim that he had more cash with him.

The manager opened the boot and was holding $30,000 in his hand when Lim snatched it away.

DPP Poon said: “As the victim’s car boot was open and his car was unlocked, he had to secure his vehicle before chasing the accused. The accused was walking very quickly, at an almost running pace. The victim lost sight of the accused along some shophouses.”

The police were alerted at around 1.30am.

Lim was represented by lawyers Josephus Tan, Cory Wong and Josiah Zee from Invictus Law. They stated in court documents that he had made restitution and repayments totalling nearly $83,000.

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

For snatch theft, an offender can be jailed for up to seven years and caned.

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