‘Recalcitrant cheat’ back behind bars after duping 12 people out of nearly $250k
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On Jan 28, Neo Ngou Moy was sentenced to 66 months’ jail after she pleaded guilty to three cheating offences and one count of criminal breach of trust.
ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG
- Neo Ngou Moy, 71, was jailed for 66 months for cheating victims of nearly $250,000 in a beauty product investment scam.
- Neo was previously jailed in 2017 for similar scams, and used salon contacts to promote a fake beauty product investment.
- She repaid some early investors to maintain the illusion, but used most of the money for personal expenses, including loan repayments.
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SINGAPORE – A woman formerly jailed for cheating offences was sent back behind bars after she duped victims into handing her nearly $250,000 to invest into beauty products, promising them high returns.
On Jan 28, Neo Ngou Moy, 71, was sentenced to 66 months’ jail after she pleaded guilty to three cheating offences and one count of criminal breach of trust.
During sentencing, 11 other charges were taken into consideration.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Darren Ang described Neo as a “recalcitrant cheat who has been undeterred by her previous sentences of imprisonment”.
Neo was jailed for 32 months in 2017
But around a year after her release, she used the same methods to cheat other victims, said DPP Ang.
The court heard that she frequently patronised Neo Art Palace, a beauty salon at Whampoa Drive, between June and November 2019.
As she could not repay loans of at least $70,000 from unlicensed moneylenders, she decided to promote a fictitious investment scheme involving the resale of beauty products to the salon’s staff and patrons.
Neo cheated 12 victims into handing her a total of $249,994 to invest in various beauty products.
She used the money to repay her loans, and the rest was given to some of her victims to convince them the investments were genuine.
Beautician gave over $56k
During a manicure session, Neo told one of the salon’s beauticians about a particular exclusive beauty product.
She invited the beautician to invest in her product by making a payment of $4,380, and promised an investment return of $7,620 in a month and a half.
The beautician started giving Neo several smaller sums, and received her capital along with “returns” from Neo over the next few months.
Thinking the investments were successful, the beautician encouraged eight of her relatives to also invest with Neo. In total, she gave Neo $56,940 from her own and relatives’ savings in November 2019.
A month later, the beautician asked Neo whether she should be expecting her investment returns soon.
Neo lied that she would be having a meeting with her company’s shareholders and would take the beautician to her firm to collect the payment after. But she did not follow up on her promise.
Upon researching Neo online and discovering she was involved in other cheating cases, the beautician filed a police report.
Neo cheated other victims in similar fashion. Several of them also reported her to the police after not getting their promised returns.
Neo repaid eight of the victims $93,420, but left about $156,000 unpaid.
Even while she was being investigated, Neo continued targeting other victims with a similar investment scheme. She spent their money on buying “4D” tickets and paying unlicensed moneylenders.
Neo, who was in remand from Aug 21, 2024 onwards, attended court via video-link.
DPP Ang called for her to be jailed for between 68 and 74 months, arguing that her repeated offending demonstrates a need for specific deterrence.
