Chinese National Sentenced to Prison Following Gambling Scam in Singapore

A Chinese individual who conned two people out of millions of dollars in Singapore was recently given a 12-year prison term. The presiding court described Wu Hong, age 41, as a “heartless con artist” who ran a phony investment fraud, telling her victims that the money would be used to bring Chinese gamblers to the country.

This Monday, Wu showed up in court for her sentencing. Five counts of fraud against her were upheld as true. The maximum sentence for each fraud charge was 10 years in prison and monetary fines.

In 2013, Wu encountered Tam Kwong Yoeng in a pub. It would be three more years before she started the fraud, which also had Soh Choon Heong, 61, as a victim.

The Strait Times said that between 2016 and 2019, Wu persuaded her victims to pay her money for investments. Over the course of the scheme, Tam forfeited more than SGD1.4 million (US$1.05 million). According to reports, Soh made SGD734,000 ($550,133). Friends of Soh, especially well-known media figures, also contributed.

But since Wu failed to deliver any results, they started to have doubts.

Gambling investment
The plan entailed pretending to wager on behalf of unknown Chinese gamblers in exchange for big returns for the investors. Tam said that he had been totally duped by Wu and that he had willfully forfeited the money because of his complete faith in her. He never requested a receipt, and despite developing doubts, he continued to give additional cash.

Tam didn’t take action until he ran out of patience. In 2018, he started recording his discussions with Wu, which he later gave the police. An investigation was launched at the time, but nothing was done.

After Soh came up with her own claims in February 2020, authorities finally got involved. She was promptly taken into custody.

Wu first asserted that the two were attempting to frame her when she appeared in court.

Lust for loot box
The appeal of gaming is often used by con artists to create fraudulent enterprises. It is unusual, though, for someone as young as 16 to have the resources to do it.

That is the account of a 16-year-old who conned his friends out of money in Singapore. He informed them that he had made significant investments in cryptocurrencies and that he could help them do the same.

He got SGD330,000 (US$248,884) from his buddies, which he used to gamble online and buy loot boxes for video games. Five years later, the con artist finally showed up in court to face justice last year.

Although he only admitted guilt to three of the 84 accusations he previously faced. He avoided the harshest punishment possible because of his advanced age, serving only a few years in prison.