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Author Topic: Sim Tee Peng [Certified Dishonest]  (Read 4500 times)

Offline greentara

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Sim Tee Peng [Certified Dishonest]
« on: January 15, 2016, 08:06:25 PM »
Man convicted of skimming S$1.8m from 21 victims
Kelly Ng [email protected]
Published: 5:29 PM, January 15, 2016

SINGAPORE — A serial cheater who singlehandedly swindled almost S$1.8 million from 21 victims was today (Jan 15) convicted of 26 charges, which included cheating, criminal misappropriation, and creating counterfeit certificates of stamp duty, among others.

Another 41 charges against Sim Tee Peng, 39, will be taken into consideration when he is sentenced on Feb 12.

Pressing for a sentence of seven to eight years’ jail, the prosecution said that Sim’s egregious conduct, which involved “skillful manipulation” and victimised many, warranted a “deterrent and retributive” jail term.

A district court heard that Sim — who was “helping out” at various law firms between June 2011 to September 2012 without receiving any salary or commission — would inform property buyers that he had issued personal cheques to make stamp duty payments and other conveyancing fees on their behalf, and then request them to make their cheques payable to him or WW Hub, which he is a director of.

WW Hub’s bank account was used by Sim for his personal purposes, the court was told.

To gain some of his victims’ trust and confidence, Sim tricked them by introducing himself as an advocate and solicitor, and even used the title “partner” on name cards given to property buyers, when he never had a practicing certificate.

He would also present bogus documents, such as false invoices using a law firm’s letterhead, and copies of unissued cheques, to dupe victims into believing that he had made the payments.

Sim then used the money from these clients to fund personal expenses, such as buying a BMW 5 Series car.

Some of the money was also used to “repay” other victims in what the prosecution described as an attempt to perpetuate the scam. On one occasion in January 2012, he stole a cheque valued at S$20,061 paid by a client to law firm Troy Yeo & Co, to pay for stamp duties of two other clients.

These “repayments”, amounting to S$2.3 million, should not be considered mitigating factors, urged deputy public prosecutor Muhamad Imaduddien, as they were “not evidence of genuine, heartfelt remorse”.

DPP Muhamad also called Sim a persistent criminal offender, who offended over a period of 14 months. Despite being initially requested to assist police investigations in January 2012, Sim continued to offend after he was released on bail.

Sim’s cheating scams “bear the hallmarks of careful planning and manipulation”, and many of his offences were undetected for a long time due to his deceptive tactics, said DPP Muhamad.

He also urged the court not to treat Sim as a first offender despite his clean record. “He had committed multiple offences involving multiple victims over an extended period of time. Public interest considerations in preventing unscrupulous tricksters like (Sim)… outweigh the absence of antecedents.”

Source: http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/man-convicted-skimming-s18m-21-victims

Offline greentara

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Re: Sim Tee Peng [Certified Dishonest]
« Reply #1 on: February 12, 2016, 03:27:03 PM »
Serial cheat jailed 89 months for misappropriating S$1.8m in ‘Ponzi-like scheme’
The man’s 89-month jail term includes 12 weeks’ imprisonment for pocketing S$91,980 in stamp duties paid to him by the victims
Vanessa Paige Chelvan
[email protected]
Published: 12:29 PM, February 12, 2016

SINGAPORE — Sim Tee Peng, who cheated 21 victims of S$1,785,934.95 over 21 months, was sentenced to 89 months in jail today (Feb 12). The victims were property buyers, and the monies were supposedly for conveyancing fees Sim collected from them on behalf of four law firms.

District Judge Low Wee Ping called Sim a “serial cheat”, pointing to the 40-year-old’s large number and wide variety of charges – 71 counts in total, including cheating, misappropriation, theft, forgery and giving false information to the authorities. Sim had also pleaded guilty to tricking victims into believing he was a lawyer, and using his ill-gotten gains to buy a BMW 5 Series car.

Sim, who collected between S$17,088 to S$312,000 from each victim, admitted to using “deceptive tactics” to prevent his scam from being exposed. He used the monies he took from later victims to pay off earlier victims, “much like a Ponzi scheme”, Judge Low said.

Thus, although the total amount misappropriated was in the millions, the “actual loss” was less, at S$202,078.34, the judge noted.

But it was still “fraud committed in a big way”, involving “much premeditation, planning and calculation” on Sim’s part, making the victims’ “dreams become a nightmare”, Judge Low said, adding that the public needs to be protected from this kind of “devious, fraudulent scheme”.

Sim’s 89-month jail term includes 12 weeks’ imprisonment for offences under the Stamp Duties Act, for pocketing S$91,980 in stamp duties paid to him by the victims.

The BMW 5 Series car has been confiscated and will be returned to the hire-purchase company. CHANNEL NEWSASIA

Source: http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/serial-cheat-jailed-89-months-misappropriating-s18m-ponzi-scheme