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SINGAPORE : When Janet Wee Guek Hong learnt on the Internet about a way of making money by selling discounted shopping vouchers, she thought it was the answer to her problems and a way to help pay off her mounting credit card bills.
And so it was - for a while, until her supply of discounted vouchers dried up. But she carried on taking in the money anyway. On Tuesday, the scam resulted in a six-month jail sentence for the 34-year-old mother-to-be, after she was accused of cheating several people of a total of S$105,576.
Ms Wee admitted to three charges of cheating, including obtaining sums of between S$1,820 and S$74,370 from people after promising she could get them grocery, shopping and petrol vouchers at a discount.
Several other similar charges and three charges of theft were taken into consideration by District Judge Chia Wee Kiat when he sentenced Ms Wee, who is due to give birth in April.
In one charge, the court was told that in 2006, Ms Wee told a former colleague - Ms Delia Lee - that she was able to deliver discounted vouchers from various companies, promising her a commission if she helped find people to buy them.
Between June 1 and August 30 last year, Ms Wee “dishonestly induced” Ms Lee to help her find buyers for vouchers from retailers like Takashimaya, Louis Vuitton, DFS and Shell, worth a total of S$74,370.
According to defence lawyer Amolat Singh, Ms Wee’s “attractive and popular” scheme hit a snag when she could no longer get the vouchers. She then took a “steep and slippery slope” of taking cash money for vouchers but failing to supply everyone who had paid, Mr Singh said.
“In the end, the defendant was engulfed in a financial tsunami that totally overwhelmed her that she could not longer meet her friends’ and colleagues’ expectations,” he said.
The court heard that Ms Wee has repaid a total of S$94,312 after her arrest. Mr Singh told the court his client had suffered a miscarriage when the case first surfaced last year, and her parents had to sell their HDB flat to help repay the victims.
Ms Wee, who was accompanied by her parents and husband in court on Tuesday, will start her jail sentence after the Lunar New Year celebrations next month on January 28. - TODAY/il
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