Serial cheat posed as rich 'sugar daddy' to deceive 17-year-old girls into sex

SINGAPORE: Less than a year after being released from prison, a jobless man posed as a rich "sugar daddy" to deceive three 17-year-old girls into having sex with him for money.

The girls never received any payment. One of them was also duped into lending the man money and threatened into finding girls to keep him company.

Tan Chip Huat, 49, pleaded guilty to seven counts of cheating, dishonestly obtaining services, criminal intimidation and intentionally causing alarm on Monday (Jul 25).

Another 13 similar charges will be considered when he returns for sentencing in August.

The three teens were among 10 victims Tan cheated of more than S$72,000, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Eric Hu. Their identities are protected by gag order.

Tan, who has previous convictions for cheating in 2005 and 2013, was released from prison in 2020.

He targeted his latest victims between January and August last year.

Tan knew that he had financial difficulties and never intended to pay the victims, but still led them on because he was "having fun", said the prosecutor.

His ruse involved posing as a high-flyer in the financial industry who earned S$50,000 to S$60,000 a month, court documents stated. He also pretended to work in a family business.

Tan claimed to live in a condominium with a personal chauffeur, and told one victim that he indulged his ex-girlfriends with expensive gifts.

In fact, he was unemployed during the offences, and previously worked as a cleaner earning less than S$2,000 a month.

LOOKING FOR A "SUGAR GIRLFRIEND"

Tan met the first 17-year-old victim, identified as V3 in court documents, through online classifieds website Locanto on Jan 4, 2021.

The girl responded to Tan's post offering S$5,000 a month for a "sugar girlfriend" as she needed financial help with her school fees.

Tan offered to sponsor V3's tuition fees at an arts school, amounting to S$20,000, in exchange for sexual services. She agreed.

They met at a hotel on Jan 5, 2021 and had sex. Tan told V3 he would pay her S$10,000 first as he needed to keep some spare cash.

He told her the bank transfer would be effected on Jan 10, 2021 and also convinced her to lend him S$400.

But when V3 checked her bank account on Jan 10, 2021, no money had been transferred. Tan gave various excuses when he was confronted about this over the following days.

He also continued asking V3 to meet up or introduce her friends to him.

During one such phone conversation on Jan 8, 2021, Tan shouted at V3 when she said she could not find anyone to accompany him that night.

Tan was aware that one of V3's close friends - another 17-year-old victim identified as V5 in court documents - worked as a social escort.

He threatened to expose V5 to police unless V3 got V5 to transfer him S$500 as a loan.

Afraid of the possible damage to V5's reputation, V3 transferred the S$500 to Tan herself without telling her friend.

Tan said he would repay the loan as well as the payment he owed V3. He never did.

THREATENED TO BEAT UP MOTHER AND CHILD

Faced with Tan's continued requests for companionship, V3 asked a friend - identified as V4 in court documents - if she would have sex with him for S$1,000.

V4, a 17-year-old single mother with an infant son, agreed as she needed the money. She met Tan on Jan 8, 2021.

When V4 did not receive the payment after three days, she confronted Tan, who told her he would pay her an extra S$100 to compensate for the delay.

V4 complained to V3 about the delay, saying that she really needed the money. V3 then decided to transfer S$1,100 to her friend out of her own pocket, thinking that she would be reimbursed by Tan.

When Tan learnt about this, he became upset that V3 had paid V4 on his behalf, because she had taken money from her father to make the payment.

Over the phone, Tan demanded that V4 return the money to V3 or he would look up her address and beat her and her baby up.

Both girls arranged for V4 to temporarily transfer some money to V3 to make it look like she had repaid the S$1,100, in order to appease Tan.

THREATENED TO WITHHOLD PAYMENT

Tan, who still owed V3 and V4 money, started threatening V3 that he would withhold the payments unless she found someone to keep him company.

In a panic, V3 approached her friend V5, telling her that Tan would pay S$3,000 for sexual services. V5 agreed and V3 accompanied her to meet Tan on Jan 13, 2021.

Like V3 and V4 before her, V5 did not receive the payment she was promised.

The prosecutor said that V3 did not benefit in any way from introducing her friends to Tan, and that she, V4 and V5 never received any of the payments they were owed.

He added that Tan also did not pay back V3 a sum of at least S$2,500 that she lent him for his personal expenses.

CONTINUED CHEATING WOMEN AFTER ARREST

Tan was arrested on Jan 21, 2021, but continued to cheat women after his arrest up to August that year.

One was a 25-year-old woman whom Tan met through Locanto in early May 2021. She told him that she had credit card debts of about S$5,000.

Tan offered to help the woman settle her debts by transferring S$77,000 to her for safekeeping, claiming that he was bad at managing his finances.

A few days later, learning that Tan needed money, the woman lent him her credit card to buy gifts for his parents as she believed she would be getting S$77,000 from him.

Tan used her credit card to make several purchases, including iPhones that he resold for profit. The victim's losses were estimated at more than S$11,600.

When the woman later confronted Tan, he wrote her two cheques that bounced.

As an excuse, Tan also sent the victim an image of a nurse in a hospital and told her that he was hospitalised. She did an online search and found that the image was taken from a website.

She also searched Tan's name and found that he had previously been convicted for cheating offences. She made a police report on Jun 15, 2021.

Another victim was a 23-year-old woman who worked part-time as a social escort. On Jul 5, 2021, Tan responded to her advertisements on Locanto.

They had dinner that same day and he offered her S$10,000 for a long-term sexual relationship, writing her a cheque. The pair had sex later that night.

The woman deposited the cheque in her account the next day but it bounced. With the help of Project X, an organisation that assists sex workers, she negotiated a payment of S$3,500 with Tan instead.

But the cheque that Tan wrote for this sum bounced again, and he continued to make various excuses for the non-payment. The woman made a police report on Jul 19, 2021.

SENTENCING POSITIONS

Mr Hu asked the court to order an assessment of Tan's suitability for corrective training, while defence counsels Mr Jerald Foo and Ms Levin Lin argued for no more than four years' jail.

Corrective training involves incarceration for between five and 14 years and is usually imposed on repeat offenders. It is a separate regime from imprisonment, with no early release.

The prosecutor said that Tan would likely be sentenced to more than 10 years' jail under regular imprisonment.

He argued that Tan was a persistent offender who reoffended less than a year after being released from prison in 2020, and that his methods of deception had evolved over time.

He also said that Tan would have been charged with obtaining underage sex if he had gone through with his promise to pay the 17-year-old victims for sex.

Those who cheat and dishonestly obtain services can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.

The penalty for criminal intimidation is up to two years' jail, a fine or both.

Those who intentionally cause alarm to another person can be jailed up to six months, fined up to S$5,000 or both.