Ex-sales executive who absconded to Thailand for almost 20 years gets jail for cheating

• Wong Chee Kuan cheated about S$8,000 from customers and his friend’s mother
• He ordered a CD player and four cassette players in one instance, then tricked a victim into paying for them
• He fled to Thailand after being charged with his offences in 2001

SINGAPORE — Some 19 years after first being charged for his offences, a Singaporean man has finally been sentenced to seven months’ jail for cheating. 

When he was in his 20s, Wong Chee Kuan cheated about S$8,000 from customers and his friend’s mother using several ruses.

After he was charged in 2001, he fled to Thailand shortly afterwards. He voluntarily surrendered himself to the Singapore immigration authorities only earlier this year.

Wong, now 46, was dealt with on Tuesday (Aug 25) after pleading guilty to three cheating charges. Two other similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing. 

HIS OFFENCES

Wong first broke the law in 1996 while working as a sales executive at Auto Assist Global. 

The company offered a programme that included unlimited car washes at the time, and also sold annual memberships for the Admiralty Resort & Country Club.

Wong met one victim on Jan 29 in 1996. The man agreed to pay for both the programme and membership, completed a form and handed it over to Wong, who submitted it to his office.

The next day, Wong arranged for the victim to meet him at Hock Hin Engineering to make payment.

Before the other man got there, Wong ordered a Sony CD player and four cassette players worth a total of S$1,390, then told the salesperson that a friend would pay for them.

The victim then arrived and handed over his credit card to pay for the car wash programme and country club membership. 

However, his card was charged for Wong’s items, which Wong later returned to collect.

The victim realised the deception when Wong’s colleague contacted him for payment. Wong has since made full restitution.

He also cheated another potential customer of S$288 on March 1 that same year. 

The other man’s credit card had already been charged for the car-wash programme, but Wong later went to his home and told him credit card payments took a long time to be processed. 

He said that he had paid S$288 in cash to the company on the victim’s behalf and that the victim’s credit card payment would be voided. The victim then issued him a cheque for that amount.

He realised what Wong had done after receiving his bank statement.

Court documents stated that Wong also misappropriated S$150 from his employer on Feb 18 in 1996.

Four years later in 2000, Wong befriended Mr Samuel Tan through the internet. 

While the pair were at Bugis Junction mall on Nov 16 that year, someone called Wong on his mobile phone. Wong then told Mr Tan that his father was in hospital and asked for help in the form of S$5,000 in cash, in order to pay the hospital bill.

Later, Wong wrote a cheque for that amount in front of Mr Tan and his mother, who had agreed to lend Wong the money.

Mr Tan’s mother then withdrew S$5,000 at the OCBC bank branch at White Sands mall, handed it to Wong and banked in his cheque.

Two days later, she received an advisory from the bank saying that the cheque could not be honoured as the linked account was closed a year ago.

When she contacted Wong, he refused to talk about the matter.

During investigations, he admitted to buying shares with the money. He had since partially repaid S$3,500 to Mr Tan’s mother.

For each cheating charge, he could have been jailed up to seven years and fined.