Teenager runs Telegram sex scam, opens bank account for other people's use, gets 21 months' probation

SINGAPORE — Wanting to make “fast cash”, a 19-year-old male Singaporean created fake accounts and profiles that offer paid sexual services over the Telegram mobile application that were just scams.

The teenager was sentenced to 21 months’ supervised probation and will have to perform 80 hours of community service for five charges in total:

• One charge of cheating victims over Telegram
• Two charges of abetting unauthorised access to a bank account and cheating a bank while opening an account
• Two driving-related offences of driving while underage and without insurance

Two other similar bank-related charges and a charge of criminal intimidation for swinging a penknife at a victim were taken into consideration for sentencing. 

The teenager cannot be identified due to the Children and Young Persons Act, which prohibits publishing the names of minors who commit a crime while under the age of 18.

TELEGRAM SEX SCAM 

In May 2022, the teenager and a girl, who was then 17 and his girlfriend, came up with the idea of operating a scam in which she would pretend to offer sexual services in exchange for money. 

It was previously reported that they did this so that they could make money to make food orders on delivery applications and to rent cars. 

The pair created new Telegram accounts and used photographs of girls they had found online as profile pictures. 

Using a variety of pseudonyms for these accounts, the two of them joined various public Telegram chat groups where sexual services were traded.

They then received private messages from chat groups members interested in getting to know their fake profiles, after which they would pretend to offer paid sexual services.

The girlfriend would also send voice notes of herself speaking to some of those who chatted with her, to assure the other person that she was a real female. 

The girlfriend would then arrange to meet with the scam victim and ask for a deposit payment of between S$10 and S$50 before the meeting. The money would be sent to the teenage boy’s bank account via PayNow service through his mobile number. 

After this, she would not meet the victim. She would then stop communicating with the victim and block the person from their Telegram accounts. 

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Ronnie Ang told the court that the two teenagers had engaged in a criminal conspiracy to cheat people on Telegram because they wanted to earn money quickly. 

A scam victim in his 30s made a police report on Oct 7, 2022 stating that he had been cheated by a female offering sexual services. 

From May to October 2022, the two teenagers earned around S$1,500 in total from around 15 to 20 victims. 

Anyone who cheats and thereby deceives a person to deliver them property can be jailed for up to 10 years and be liable to a fine. 

CHEATING BANKS 

The male teenager was also charged with opening bank accounts to be given away to unknown persons. 

He was approached by Leong Jun Xian and Liu Pang Shi and a third teenager, who was under the age of 18 at the time. The trio were involved in obtaining bank accounts belonging to others. 

In July 2021, a friend of the group told them that the teenager was his friend and was interested in opening bank accounts for money. 

After the teenager did not respond to the group's requests to meet him, Liu contacted the teenager’s girlfriend. 

The court heard that the teenager did not want his girlfriend to be harassed and so agreed to help the trio. He was instructed to open a United Overseas Bank account in his name, with S$1,000 given to him by the group on July 29, 2021. 

The teenager then handed the account’s banking card and passcode to Leong and these were eventually handed over to unknown persons. 

On Aug 6 in 2021, S$30,000 was transferred by Jaishankar Subramanian, a scam victim, into this account that the teenager had opened. The sum was withdrawn on the same day by unknown persons. 

For cheating, the teenager could have been jailed for up to three years or be fined, or both. 

For abetting unauthorised access to the computer of the bank, he could have been jailed for up to two years or be fined up to S$5,000.

UNDERAGE DRIVING ON GETGO

Around April 2022, a 14-year old boy who was a close friend of the teenager bought an account on GetGo, a car-renting platform, for S$200 on Telegram from an unknown person.

The male teenager would then use his 14-year-old friend's purchased GetGo account to drive rented vehicles on three occasions in May 2022, to meet his friends, go out to get supper and visit Bukit Brown Cemetery. 

As he was 17 at the time, the boy was convicted of driving without a licence and without insurance, since the minimum age to drive a car is 18 years old in Singapore. 

For driving a car while under the age of 18 years old, first offenders can be jailed for up to three months or be fined up to S$1,000. Those found guilty of subsequent offences can be jailed for up to six months or face a fine of up to S$2,000.

Anyone found guilty of driving a car without insurance can be jailed for up to three months or be fined up to S$1,000 for a first offence and be disqualified from holding or obtaining a driving licence for a period of 12 months from conviction.