Over 2 years’ jail for man who cheated victim of $89k in investment ruse

SINGAPORE – A man befriended a fellow inmate while they were in prison together in 2022, only to cheat the latter of $89,000 in an investment ruse following their release.

On March 9, Lee Chee Tiong, 45, who has made no restitution, was sentenced to two years and five months’ jail after he pleaded guilty to a cheating charge.

He had duped the 57-year-old victim into making “investments” for a company that did not exist.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Ryan Lim said that following their release from prison after serving their sentences for undisclosed offences, the victim worked in Lee’s parcel delivery business.

The victim took on another job after working there for two months.

In November 2024, Lee faced heavy business losses and could not pay his employees.

He then hatched a plan to obtain money from his former fellow inmate to pay off the salaries.

Lee also wanted to invest the remainder in cryptocurrency and pay off his business debts.

Soon after, he approached the victim and asked if he was interested in investing in a limousine taxi business.

DPP Lim said: “The accused told the victim that he lacked sufficient capital to start the business on his own, which was why he was asking the victim for his cooperation. The accused claimed that he had been liaising with an agent who could assist them in starting this ‘lucrative business’.”

He added: “To heighten the deception and convince the victim that this was a legitimate business venture, the accused provided the victim with extensive false details he had procured from assorted Telegram advertisements.”

These included the cost of renting the vehicles, the drivers’ rates and the expected revenue from the venture.

Lee claimed that both of them had to contribute weekly “capital injections” for this purported venture.

The victim agreed to take part in the “investment”, and the two men then decided to name the company Astra Limo Services.

Lee also told him that he would incorporate it with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority.

On seven occasions in 2024, between Nov 13 and Dec 20, the victim used PayNow to transfer $89,000 in total to two bank accounts, as directed by Lee.

The victim transferred $21,000 in total to one of the bank accounts after Lee claimed that it belonged to the “company’s agent”.

In reality, the account belonged to one of Lee’s employees, who was unaware of the deception.

Lee owed the woman her salary, the court heard.

The victim transferred the remaining $68,000 to the second bank account, as he believed Lee, who said it belonged to the company.

It was, in fact, Lee’s own bank account.

Lee then used the money from this account to invest in cryptocurrency.

“When the accused sustained severe losses from his cryptocurrency investments, he withdrew the remaining money he had and gambled the money away at a casino in a desperate bid to recoup the losses,” the prosecutor said.

The victim stopped making payments after Dec 20, 2024, and wanted to stop taking part in the “joint venture” as he was not receiving the promised profits.

To delay the payment of the promised money, Lee fabricated various excuses, claiming that other parties had “defaulted on their payments to the company”.

In February 2025, Lee finally came clean about what he had done, admitting that the limousine taxi business did not exist.

Court documents did not disclose what happened next, but Lee was later arrested on May 27 that year.