Man scammed 10 victims on Carousell over exercise clothes, misappropriated his hairdresser's money

Straits Times

3 days ago

Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Malaysian national Ong Kok Mun admitted to five offences, including cheating, criminal breach of trust, drug charges and assisting others to retain their benefits from criminal conduct.
SINGAPORE – A man scammed 10 victims on Carousell into handing him over $900 in 2024 thinking that they were buying exercise clothes from him.
Malaysian national Ong Kok Mun, 39, also misappropriated about $1,800 of his hairdresser's money that same year.
On July 29, Ong admitted to five offences, including cheating, criminal breach of trust, drug charges and assisting others to retain their benefits from criminal conduct.
Nine other cheating charges and one drug-related offence will be taken into consideration for his sentencing on July 31.
The court heard that Ong, a former delivery man, lost his job in February 2024.
He then purportedly bought exercise garments in bulk from Shopee and resold them on Carousell.
Between Feb 3 and Feb 14 that year, 10 people paid Ong a total of $920 for the clothes. But he cut off contact after getting the money and did not deliver the apparel to them.
One victim paid him $155 for four sport bras and two pairs of shorts from Lululemon, but never received the items.
Ong later admitted that he had used the money to pay for his personal expenses and accommodation at a hotel after his supply of exercise clothes ran out.
Ong also misappropriated money from people he k new personally, such as a hairdresser of whom he had been a regular customer for many years.
In January 2024, he told the hairdresser – a fellow 39-year-old Malaysian – that he had unused credits in his Shopback account.
The hairdresser asked Ong if he could help him buy some Chinese New Year hampers at a discount using those credits.
Ong then got the hairdresser to transfer $1,812 to his bank account, but did not buy the hampers nor return the money. Court documents did not state what he used the money for.
Ong has not made restitution to any of his victims.
During his unemployment period, Ong's former gang member offered him a job with a criminal syndicate.
He would look for people who were willing to open and relinquish their bank accounts, which would then be used to receive money from scam victims. Ong received about $1,000 in commission for each bank account.
Between March 10 and April 1, 2024, he referred at least 18 bank accounts to the syndicate. Six of these accounts received $422,999 in scam proceeds from 49 victims.
Ong was arrested on April 3, 2024. The police searched his room at the Darlene Hotel in Geylang and found methamphetamine, which he kept for personal consumption.
He admitted that he had started abusing the drug almost every day since June 2023 due to stress.
Court documents showed that Ong was previously admitted to the Drug Rehabilitation Centre and jailed for drug consumption.
Mr Edwin Ho of the Public Defender's Office, who represented Ong, said his client's involvement with the criminal syndicate was driven by financial desperation.
'He promises that this will be his last brush with the law,' added Mr Ho.