Preventive detention for serial cheat who fleeced 22 people on Carousell
SINGAPORE — His first cheating conviction was at the age of 18, but jail stints and even 10 years of corrective training — a harsher form of imprisonment for repeat offenders — could not deter his latest scam, this time on online marketplace Carousell.
Using the platform, John Leong Kim Onn, now 55 years old, cheated 22 victims of S$9,124 over a period of about two months in 2017.
In one instance, he advertised a stay at the Hard Rock Hotel in Resorts World Sentosa, attracted a customer who paid for it, and then disappeared when she tried to get confirmation details of the stay.
On Thursday (July 25), the serial cheat was sentenced to seven years’ preventive detention — a severe punishment imposed when the court is satisfied that a repeat offender should be locked away to protect the public.
Leong pleaded guilty to seven cheating charges, with another 15 charges taken into consideration for sentencing.
His lawyer Kalidass Murugaiyan told the court that he will be appealing against the sentence.
STRING OF PAST CONVICTIONS
Many of Leong’s past convictions involved cheating, starting in 1982 when he was jailed for one day. It was not stated what he did then.
He also committed theft several times in 1987, and was sentenced in 2002 to 10 years of corrective training for forgery for the purpose of cheating.
ADS FOR FAKE HOTEL STAYS, RENTAL UNITS
The court heard on Thursday that five of Leong’s current charges involved him scamming people out of cash for rental units at 9 Jalan Kukoh, a Housing and Development Board flat in Outram. He was working odd jobs then.
In one instance, under the username “Chingchaitioho”, Leong advertised a rental unit on his Carousell page. He met his victim and took S$500 in cash from him, as well as a wefie together.
Besides the Hard Rock Hotel, he also cheated victims over fake stays at Marina Bay Sands (MBS).
One victim, a 34-year-old woman, responded to his advertisement for a three-day, two-night stay at MBS supposedly scheduled for early January 2018.
On Nov 22, 2017, Leong asked her to transfer S$500 to his bank account, which she did. On the first day of her purported stay, she went to MBS and tried to contact Leong but could not reach him despite multiple calls and WhatsApp messages.
He was arrested when his victims lodged police reports. The police identified him through the mobile phone number and bank account details he had given to his victims.
Leong has since made full restitution to his Carousell victims.
He could have been jailed for up to three years and fined for each cheating charge.
