A man who duped four women into giving him $55,000 to place bets on horse races was jailed for 14 months on Monday. Malaysian Peter Aw Boo Cheong, 41, was a race horse owner with the Malaysian Racing Association when he cheated them into giving him between $5,000 and $35,000 each between April 2010 and February 2011.

He pleaded guilty last month to three of six charges. The amount involved in the proceeded charges was $35,000.

A district court heard that he met the single women online in 2010 and led them to believe that he was interested in a romantic relationship with them. In his dealings with the victims, he presented himself as a divorcee with young children whom he doted on, was well-to-do, educated and working in the Singapore Turf Club.

Within a few days of contacting them, he would ask the victims to meet him urgently to discuss investment opportunities he had which he claimed would reap significant profits. He told them he had insider information with reliable tips about a certain horse race and was able to assess accurately which horse would win that race.

He further said that betting on the horse race carried low-risk and was certain to generate high returns.

Investigations showed that Aw, a habitual gambler, did not place any of the bets on horse races but used the money for his own purposes, including gambling.

Two of the victims had recovered $11,000 from Aw, a Singpaore permanent resident. He could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined on each charge.