10 months’ jail for man who cheated more than 50 people on Carousell
SINGAPORE — More than 50 people paid several hundred dollars as deposits to rent vehicles from a "dealer" on online marketplace Carousell, but they never received the vehicles.
On Thursday (March 28), 31-year-old Subramaniam Perumal was sentenced to 10 months’ jail after pleading guilty to 36 charges of cheating. Eighteen other similar charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.
Subramaniam, who made a total of S$8,170 through his online scams, could have been jailed up to 10 years and fined for each charge.
HOW HE DID IT
From August to December last year, Subramaniam conned Carousell users into paying him deposits for the rental of vehicles.
He would download pictures of cars from other Carousell advertisements and post them on his own Carousell account under the pretext of leasing them. He would then ask interested customers to transfer a deposit of a few hundred dollars to him.
After the money was deposited, Subramaniam would stop responding to their messages.
When a Carousell user posted negative feedback on his account, he would simply set up another account and repeat his ruse.
To cover his tracks, Subramaniam used mobile pre-paid cards that were not registered under his name when sending phone text messages to his victims.
He would also ask them to transfer the money to bank accounts belonging to his acquaintances, who would receive commission or have their loans written off for helping him.
ONLINE SEX SCAM
This was not the first time Subramaniam had been involved in cheating.
In 2017, he posted an advertisement on online classifieds portal Locanto, offering prostitutes for paid sex.
A man, who was not named in court documents, came across the ad and met Subramaniam at the void deck of Block 178 Lompang Road near Bukit Panjang Plaza. He paid Subramaniam S$250 and was directed to a unit.
However, when the man reached the unit, he realised that there was no one there. He headed back to the void deck, but Subramaniam had already left.
The man then sent a message to Subramaniam at the same phone number while posing as another interested customer. He and a friend then caught Subramaniam on Nov 26, 2017 at the same void deck along Lompang Road and reported him to the police.
