Man posing as woman offering sexual services jailed and caned for extortion, cheating and drug possession
On Wednesday (June 12), Ramlan bin Abu was sentenced to a total of six years and six months’ imprisonment, which was backdated to Oct 25 last year when he was remanded.
SINGAPORE — Claiming to be in dire need of money to support his ailing mother, 24-year-old Ramlan Abu resorted to advertising sexual services in exchange for money on classifieds website Locanto by masquerading as a woman.
Not knowing his true identity, at least six victims fell for Ramlan’s ruse and he was able to either extort or cheat a total of S$6,000 from them.
In the cases that involved extortion, Ramlan’s modus operandi was the same: He had received incriminating evidence against the victims either in terms of pictures or text messages which he threatened to make public unless he received money from them.
The total number of victims is not clear from court documents.
On Wednesday (June 12), in the State Courts, Ramlan was sentenced to a total of six years and six months’ imprisonment, which was backdated to Oct 25 last year when he was remanded. He will also receive 10 strokes of the cane.
Ramlan had pleaded guilty to 14 charges which includes extortion, cheating and the possession of a controlled drug and the utensils to consume it. Fifty other charges were taken into consideration.
THE VICTIMS
The court heard six examples in which Ramlan had either extorted or cheated his victims, who cannot be named due to a gag order.
One case involved a 22-year-old man who contacted Ramlan on the morning of Sept 24 last year for sexual services.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Zhou Yihong said that during the course of their conversation, the victim had sent over a nude photo of himself via WhatsApp.
He also agreed to Ramlan’s suggestion of having a video call. All this time, the victim was still under the impression that he was conversing with a woman, even after the video call started.
The victim realised his error only when Ramlan revealed his private parts while both men were performing a lewd act on themselves.
Ms Zhou said the victim continued touching himself before stopping the video call.
As per an earlier agreement, Ramlan told the victim to transfer S$55.55, which he did.
Later in the afternoon, the victim received a message from Ramlan that showed a Facebook post that contained images of the victim’s face and private parts.
Ramlan told the victim that he would not take down the post unless he received another S$90 from him. Fearing for his reputation, the victim transferred the money on the same day.
The victim’s nightmare did not end that day. Ramlan repeated the same tactic on 31 other occasions, and he was able to extort a total of S$3,110 from the same victim.
The victim finally made a police report against Ramlan on Oct 22 when he could no longer bear the stress from the extortions.
In a separate case that involved cheating, the court heard Ramlan introduced himself to his victim on Oct 22 last year as a “pre-op shemale”.
The 34-year-old victim met Ramlan at his house at around 1.50am where he paid Ramlan S$60 to perform a sex act on him.
The victim left Ramlan’s home at around 3.30am. About half an hour later, Ramlan contacted the victim on a separate phone and pretended to be an agent named David.
He accused the victim of underpaying, and asked for an additional S$90. When the victim refused, “David” demanded S$100 instead as the victim was “late in payment”.
Ramlan was finally arrested by the police on Oct 23 last year.
During his arrest, the police recovered a packet of crystalline substance along with a utensil meant for its use.
An analysis of the substance revealed that it was not more than 0.07g of methamphetamine.
Ramlan told the police that he knew what it was, and that he had intended it for his personal consumption.
During his mitigation plea, defence lawyer Koh Jian Ying said Ramlan needed the money to support the medical expenses of his elderly mother who had suffered from a stroke in 2015.
In his submission, Mr Koh added that Ramlan is the sole caretaker of his mother — his parents were divorced and his siblings did not assist in any way.
Mr Koh also said Ramlan had a low-level of education and was unable to find a stable job with a salary that was sufficient to support himself and his mother.
In order to make ends meet, he began working as a social escort.
However, Ms Zhou refuted Ramlan’s justification for his actions. She said that investigations revealed that Ramlan did not use his ill-gotten gains to support his mother, but on himself instead.
For each charge of extortion, Ramlan could have been jailed for between two and seven years, with caning. He could also have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined for each charge of cheating.
For the possession of a controlled substance and the utensils required to consume it, Ramlan could have been punished with a maximum of three years’ jail and/or a fine of up to S$10,000 for each charge.
