Probation for teen who cheated 21 victims of over $7k in Marquee nightclub tickets scam
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The 19-year-old teenager, posing as a nightclub employee on Telegram, sold bogus tickets to a sold-out event at Marquee nightclub in August 2022.
PHOTO: ST FILE
SINGAPORE - A teenager who sold bogus tickets to a sold-out event to 21 victims in 2022, netting himself $7,055, was ordered to undergo 21 months’ probation on Wednesday.
During his probation, Alden Christopher Tan Choon Siang, 19, who committed the offences to offset his losses from illegal online gambling, has to remain indoors from 10pm to 6am every day and perform 60 hours of community service.
He also has to attend gambling relapse intervention programmes and his parents were bonded for $5,000 to ensure his good behaviour.
In July, Tan pleaded guilty to six counts of cheating. According to court documents, he had lost around $10,000 in illegal online gambling.
Tan, who was 18 at the time, wanted to continue gambling to recoup his losses, and decided to get money to do so by scamming others.
In July 2022, he discovered there was demand for tickets to an Aug 6, 2022, event at Marquee Singapore, a nightclub at The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands.
The Straits Times previously reported that on that date, there was an event at Marquee hosted by K-pop star Jackson Wang. Those tickets were priced between $60 and $200, and were sold out in a day.
Posing as a nightclub employee called “Adam Sim”, Tan posted a message on a Telegram group chat, SG Clubbing, advertising tickets to the event, adding that buyers would not need to queue for entry.
When people contacted him, Tan said he had tickets for sale that cost between $70 and $90.
At first, Tan directed victims to transfer money to an account provided by the illegal online gambling operator to top up his gambling account. But he was informed by the operator that this was not allowed.
He then bought three bank accounts – a CIMB account maintained in the name of Tan Boon Tin, and two OCBC accounts maintained in the names of Ryanveer Singh Dhillon and Teo Chun Chiang – and instructed victims to transfer payment there.
Court documents did not disclose details about these accounts and how he bought them.
Tan then used the proceeds to top up his gambling account, with each victim transferring up to $1,020.
He subsequently deleted his Telegram account and became uncontactable.
The victims alerted the police after realising they had been duped.
Between July 30 and Aug 5, 2022, the police received more than 20 reports about the scam.
Tan’s identity was established, and he was arrested soon after.
In earlier proceedings, Deputy Public Prosecutor Matthew Choo said that Tan has since repaid $3,566. Tan had also agreed for the remaining $849 in his bank account to be used to repay the victims.
