Woman, 34, handed 283 charges over online hotel booking scams; victims allegedly lost more than S$1.3m
SINGAPORE — A 34-year-old woman was charged on Friday (Aug 2) for her suspected role in e-commerce scams involving more than S$1.3 million in sham hotel room bookings.
Farah Diyanah Abdul Falik was handed 283 charges, mostly of cheating.
Charge sheets stated that she allegedly deceived victims into believing that hotel room reservations would be made for them, thus inducing them to make payments of varying amounts to her.
The victims suffered financial losses totalling more than S$1.3 million.
Farah is represented by her lawyer Mohamed Baiross from law firm IRB Law. No indication of plea was taken when she appeared in court on Friday.
She was offered bail of S$30,000 and her case will return to court on Aug 30.
In a separate statement on Thursday night, the police said that they had received several reports between mid-December 2021 and December 2022 from victims who were allegedly cheated by a seller who offered discounted hotel room packages.
The seller offered these packages for numerous popular hotels here, via an undisclosed social media channel.
After the victims had made payments through bank transfers and over e-payment application PayNow, they allegedly failed to receive their bookings.
The police said that officers from the Anti-Scam Command established Farah's identity through follow-up investigations and arrested her for cheating.
Investigations revealed that she is believed to be involved in more than 900 non-fulfilled hotel room package bookings.
If convicted of cheating, Farah could be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.
