57-year-old Hui Seng Hong pleaded guilty to one count of cheating and was sentenced to one month imprisonment on 10 August.
He had lied about being authorised to collect rent and cheated his flat tenants into giving him $800, which was meant to be their rental fee.
One of the victims that Hui collected money from, So Tak Sing, has since passed away, and Hui then paid restitution to the man’s next of kin.
Background
Hui met a sick man, Mr So Tak Sing, while selling chicken rice in Hougang, and they had conversations occasionally.
Hui picked So up from the airport in December 2018 and followed him home in a taxi as he was feeling unwell after returning from Thailand.
While So was in his room resting, Hui then gathered the man’s 4 tenants into the living room and told them that So was not well, lying to them that So had asked him to collect rental fees from them.
The tenants then told him that they didn’t have the case with them, to which Hui then said he would collect it from them the next day.
He then took So’s house keys without him knowing, planning to enter his home when So was not around.
Hui then met up with So the next day at the hawker centre, and accompanied him home after So told him that he was not feeling well, before calling the ambulance.
So was then sent to Sengkang General Hospital, and Hui then waited for the tenants to return from work, before lying again to one of the tenants, 59-year-old Tan Liang Poh, about being authorised to collect rental from him.
Tan (who has since passed away), had been renting a room from So for about a year, with his rental fee being about $200 per month.
Hui then showed Tan a photo of So in the hospital, and collected $400 from the late Tan as he owed 2 months rent – he also collected rent from Tan over the next two months.
So was subsequently discharged from the hospital on 24 March 2019 and found out about 4 days later that Hui had collected rental fees from his tenants.
He called Hui on his phone but his calls were not answered, he then lodged a police report against him.