9 months' jail for woman who helped scammer receive illicit funds despite being issued police advisory
SINGAPORE — Thinking that she was assisting a country and western singer crowdfund his career, Helene Chiang continued to help the man receive money, despite already giving him S$30,000 herself and being issued an advisory by the police.
The 58-year-old Singaporean was sentenced to nine months' jail on Wednesday (Jan 10) after she pleaded guilty to a charge under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes Act, of assisting another person to retain benefits from criminal conduct despite having reasonable grounds to believe that the person had engaged in such conduct.
Another charge under the Payment Services Act of providing a payment service in Singapore without a licence was taken into consideration during sentencing.
CALLED TO POLICE STATION
On Sept 28 in 2022, Chiang was called to a police station to have her statement recorded after nine police reports were filed against various bank accounts registered in her name.
During the statement recording, she admitted to providing a digital payment token service, using a Bitcoin payment token, from May to September 2022 for a "Keith David" whom she had met online.
Chiang had bought the token on David's instruction and had no licence to provide this payment service. This was the subject of the charge taken into consideration.
Chiang claimed that she had connected with David after she received a message from him, and wanted to help crowdfund his career as a country and western singer.
She said that she had also given him S$30,000.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Ariel Tan said that for providing the payment service, David had paid Chiang about S$2,000.
On the same day that the police recorded her statement, they also issued Chiang an advisory that stated that the funds in her bank accounts were collected from scams.
She acknowledged the police advisory by signing on it.
Court documents did not state the nature of these scams, how they may be connected to the digital payment service, who made the nine police reports against her and what else was in the police advisory.
RECEIVING MONEY FOR ALLEGED SCAM
Even after receiving the advisory, Chiang continued to contact David via messaging application Telegram.
She told him about her interview with the police and showed him the letter of advisory.
He then reassured her, claiming that he would come to Singapore to resolve the matter for her. Court documents did not state where David was residing.
He then gave her instructions to collect money from Ms Lee Mui Cheng, an alleged victim of an internet love scam.
Chiang met up with Ms Lee on four occasions between Sept 29 and Oct 25 in 2022, at a linkway between Clementi MRT Station and Clementi Mall where Ms Lee handed over a total of S$131,300 to Chiang.
Following David's instructions, Chiang deposited the money collected into a bank account he had provided, before throwing away the automated teller machine receipts.
David would then delete the Telegram messages between him and Chiang after each transaction.
Chiang did not profit from these transactions with Ms Lee's money, and was not promised a large reward for her assistance, DPP Tan said.
Ms Lee made a police report against Chiang on Oct 27 in 2022 after discovering that she had likely been a scam victim.
MITIGATION
Defence Counsel Brown Pereira, who was representing Chiang, urged the court to consider imposing a jail term of between five and seven months on account that his client had fallen prey to David's scheme.
"She was manipulated into linking up with this singer, and actually thought she was trying to help him fund his career," Mr Pereira said.
He added that Chiang unfortunately "destroyed" her own career in the finance industry and her life when she proceeded with the manipulation of the bank accounts. Court documents did not state her occupation.
The prosecution, on the other hand, sought a jail term of between 10 and 12 months. DPP Tan argued that even though Chiang was not profiting from her deeds, she had followed David's instructions to collect a sizeable amount of money.
Those who help another person to retain benefits from criminal conduct despite having reasonable grounds to believe that the person had engaged in such conduct can be jailed for up to 10 years or fined up to S$500,000, or both.
