Man laundered criminal proceeds from sale of S$34,000 Rolex watch using cryptocurrency, gets jail

SINGAPORE: A man was cheated of S$34,000 by a person posing as an employee at a reputable cryptocurrency company.

The victim had transferred the sum to a bank account, expecting to get cryptocurrency in return.

Instead, he never got the cryptocurrency. The S$34,000 was used to buy a Rolex Daytona watch, and a series of men were roped into the concealment of the crime by reselling the watch and converting it into cash or cryptocurrency to avoid suspicion.

Elroy Low Zi Quan, 22, agreed to help in this venture. After getting his hands on S$28,000 of the illegal proceeds, he used S$25,000 of it to buy cryptocurrency and escape detection. He also spent another S$3,000 on his own expenses.

Low was sentenced to 21 weeks' jail on Thursday (Feb 10) for his involvement. He pleaded guilty to one count of converting criminal proceeds, with another charge taken into consideration.

The court heard that an individual known only as K cheated a 31-year-old man by impersonating an employee of a well-known cryptocurrency company.

The victim transferred S$34,000 into a bank account in exchange for cryptocurrency that he never received. Instead, K used the money as payment for a Rolex Daytona watch.

On Apr 11, 2021, K sent a message to Low on messaging application Telegram. He asked Low to collect the watch on his behalf, offering to pay him S$5,000.

Low agreed and contacted another man to collect the watch on his behalf. More men were roped in, and the watch was collected from a shop in Somerset Road, and handed to Low that same day.

The next day, Low texted K on Telegram and asked how he had obtained the watch. K admitted that he had cheated someone into transferring S$34,000 to the bank account of the watch shop in exchange for cryptocurrency.

K asked Low to sell the watch, offering another S$5,000 to him to do so. Tempted by the money offered, Low agreed.

To avoid getting caught, Low obtained a new number and used it to contact different watch shops, asking how much they would pay for the Rolex Daytona.

He decided to sell it to a shop at 1 Maritime Square for S$31,000. He again contacted another man to help him sell the watch. This man asked a second man, who asked a third man to do the deed.

Eventually, the watch was sold to the shop for S$31,000. However, Low claims he received only S$28,000, with the other S$3,000 paid out for one of the men's help.

Low did not deposit the S$28,000 immediately into his bank account, as he knew that directly depositing such a large sum of money was easily traceable and could raise suspicion.

Instead, he met an unidentified person later that day and used S$25,000 in cash to buy cryptocurrency from him. Low spent the remaining S$3,000 on his personal expenses.

A few days later, Low sold some of the cryptocurrency he had bought for S$3,500. He transferred S$3,000 of this to a bank account as directed by K.

On Apr 15, 2021, Low sold the remaining cryptocurrency he had purchased for S$21,800. He transferred S$18,000 to various bank accounts as directed by K, and retained the remaining sum of S$4,300.

The prosecutor asked for between six to eight months' jail for Low, saying that money-laundering offences are grave ones as they allow proceeds generated from serious crimes to be passed on to perpetrators, therefore facilitating such crimes.

"They are easily committed, for example, simply by having such offenders agree to receive funds in their bank accounts and subsequently transferring them to others," he said.

"However, these simple actions play a crucial role in criminal enterprise in that they allow perpetrators of the predicate crimes to conceal and ultimately to enjoy the fruits of their crimes."

He noted that the entire sum of S$34,000 was dissipated, with unknown criminals getting away with S$21,000 and no restitution made to the victim.

Low also had a "considerable level of premeditation", outsourcing the collection and sale of the watch to others and obtaining a new handphone number.

He also added a level of protection by converting S$25,000 into cryptocurrency first, knowing a direct deposit would raise suspicion.

Low was allowed to begin his jail term on Mar 7.