We have Simon Leviev, the Tinder Swindler who managed to con an estimated US$10m from women around the world, and Anna Sorokin (Anna Delvey), a fraudster who pretended to be a rich German heiress to live a lavish lifestyle.
Here in Singapore, we have our very own Singapore Swindler, Jerald Low Jing Yong, 27. Between 2017 and 2020, he scammed several victims, both men and women, out of more than S$150,000.
Flaunting his non-existent wealth
Starting in early 2018, Low realised issuing cheques to his bank accounts would reflect a temporary increase in his bank balance. Even though the cheques would bounce eventually, he could show his balance to people around him to impress them with his wealth.
A few months later, in April 2018, he stole his mother’s cheque book and wrote himself a cheque for S$1 trillion (S$1,000,000,000,000) with a forged signature.
Yes, that’s a trillion, with twelve zeroes. To give you a better sense of the numbers, Singapore’s nominal GDP currently stands at an estimated US$379b. Why he thought that amount would seem plausible, no one will ever know.
Expectedly, OCBC did not process the cheque and lodged a police report.
Low also issued cheques payable to himself to government entities such as The Central Provident Fund Board, Housing and Development Board, and Bishan-Toa Payoh Town Council. None of the cheques cleared.
Rich Korean purchasing properties
He moved on to flaunting bank account balances to real estate options in May 2019, where he decided to assume the persona of a wealthy Korean heir to view and purchase properties.
To make his ruse more convincing, he dyed his hair and presented himself under the moniker “Park Joon Hyung”. Maybe he got inspiration to change his hair color from the actual Park Joon-hyung?
As Park Joon Hyung, he met with a property agent to view various properties over three days.
Sticking to his previous ploy of issuing fake cheques, he issued a total of 13 cheques amounting to S$2.1m for the option to purchase fees for at least seven properties. His payees included developers like Keppel Bay and Angullia Development.
An option to purchase (OTP) gives the buyer exclusive rights to purchase a property while the seller cannot look for other potential buyers within the stipulated time frame. It does not mean that the buyer is obliged to follow through with the purchase.
The money is forfeited if the OTP isn’t exercised before it lapses. For private properties, the option is usually 1% of the property price.
Knowing Low’s payees included Keppel Bay, we look at private condo Reflections At Keppel Bay. The cheapest 2-bedder unit is going at S$1.5m, which means he issued a cheque for S$15,000.
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However, Low (obviously) failed to honour the payments, and the property sellers and agent eventually released the properties back onto the real estate market.
His purpose? It was so he could boast to his friends about being able to afford expensive properties.
Scam after scam
Traffic crimes
In May 2018, Low got into a traffic accident, after which he used the other driver’s particulars to sign up with Tribecar, a local car-sharing service.
Using Tribecar’s vehicles, he beat a red light and damaged one of the cars. Subsequently, the victim whom Low impersonated received summons and letters from NTUC Income for the traffic violations and had to file police reports.
Low also signed up with another car rental service, BlueSG, racking up S$1,000 in rental fees. Not only did he fail to pay for it, he did not have a valid driving license.
Telco scams
Another scam he ran over three years was meeting men on dating apps and online forums, where he persuaded them to sign up for phone lines on the pretext of needing the numbers for work purposes.
After getting the phones from the contract plans, Low would sell them for cash or use the lines to buy game credits on iTunes.
On New Year’s Eve in 2018, Low met a 24-year-old man online and spent the next day spinning a web of lies. His outrageous claims include having millions of dollars in his account and that his father worked in the oil and gas industry in South Korea.
The man fell for Low’s claims and trusted Low enough to sign seven mobile phone contracts. Low took the phones and sold them in January 2019, pocketing the money.
When asked to pay the man back for the contract fees amounting to more than S$5,000 from the multiple phone lines, Low immediately blocked his number.
His telco scams amounted to more than S$150,000 in losses.
False company
Another scam Low ran was setting up Fitness Tea, a shell company. He hired a 35-year-old woman in October 2018 and told her to sign up for two mobile contracts.
Low then used the phone lines to purchase game credits. The woman was instructed to sign up for three more mobile contracts a day later.
The bills amounted to S$6,400 in total, which Low refused to pay for.
Convinced boyfriend to be his scapegoat
In a bid to escape the heat, he convinced his boyfriend Desmond Poon Jun Yee, 22, to take the blame for his crimes instead.
They met through dating app Grindr and began dating in early 2020, where Low spun more lies and told Poon he was the director and owner of a popular bubble tea franchise.
Between early September to November 2020, Low lodged multiple false police reports. He claimed Poon coerced him to commit the offences and threatened him and his family and that Poon mentally and physically abused him repeatedly.
As if that wasn’t enough, Low decided to throw in elements of sexual assault from Poon to strengthen the case from his earlier reports.
In April 2021, he filed another report that Poon had raped him on more than 15 occasions, resulting in the police sending him for a sexual assault medical examination.
On the same day, both Low and Poon decided to come clean and admit that none of the physical or sexual assaults happened.
His final crime
Low’s spree didn’t end there. Afraid he needed to commence his jail term this year in January, Low forged a medical certificate (MC) to excuse himself from going to court by editing a previous MC. He sent it to his lawyer, who then submitted it to the court.
Ultimately, Low’s lies caught up with him. On March 16, he was sentenced to five years and seven months in jail, with a fine of S$1,800 (wait, what?). He is also disqualified for driving for a year after being released from prison.
What do you think of the scam? Let us know in the comments section below.
If you found this article helpful, check out Property agent busts rental scam on viral TikTok video and 6 scary rental scams Singapore landlords fall prey to.
About Jamie Wong
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Such a scammer, must serve him right, our society need to punish these scammers heavily instead! Affect our fellow agents, no doubt.
5 years? with many victim and crimes committed 10-15 years should be the case and with caning. this case has been dragged for nearly 4 years and i think this guy deserve more than just 5 years and 1.8k fine
Mental disorder. Habit since teenage time I think. My friend got cheated by him during our secondary school days! He need IMH treatment.
We always blamed the Scammers for our pedicument. Seriously, we should be asking how the ‘scammed’ can be so dumb and naive in the very first place.
Perhaps, Media Corp free to air channels should allocate a specific channel to portrait and illustrate scammers and the scammed at work, the objective , to relentlessly educate our young and old citizens about such social menace. Such channel can also be a brainstorming session for teachers and educators.