SINGAPORE: A masseuse who got to know a man with a mild intellectual disability in the course of her work developed a persona named “Lily” in order to trick the man into giving her more than S$39,000.
Seah Bee Leng, a 60-year-old grandmother, deceived the victim into giving her the money on 159 occasions between October 2018 and November 2019.
Seah was sentenced to a year’s jail on Tuesday (Jan 31). She pleaded guilty to two charges of cheating and was allowed to begin her jail term in February.
The court heard that Seah was working as a masseuse. The victim, whose name and age were redacted from court documents, was an office attendant.
He first got to know Seah at her massage parlour at Pearl Center.
He later went to her new massage parlour at People’s Park Centre for massages. He knew Seah as “Jojo” and had a mild intellectual disability, with an IQ in the range of 50 to 70.
In October 2018, Seah called the victim and claimed to be a woman named “Lily”.
She claimed to be Seah’s friend and said Seah’s mother had passed away and Seah needed money.
The victim did not check with Seah about this matter, and transferred a sum of money to a bank account.
Over time, the victim became romantically interested in Lily and communicated with her over calls and WhatsApp messages.
Seah posed as Lily and asked the victim for money under various pretexts. She pretended to be a divorcee with a 10-year-old daughter.
She had added the daughter into the narrative so that the victim would not ask to visit Lily at Lily’s home.
She would get the victim to transfer money to various bank accounts belonging to herself, her boyfriend, or to friends to whom she owed money.
In total, the victim transferred S$39,010 over 159 occasions due to Seah’s deception.
Seah has made restitution of S$10,000.
The prosecutor asked for 10 to 13 months’ jail for Seah, citing the number of occasions of cheating and premeditation involved.
Seah’s lawyer said the restitution of S$10,000 is the most Seah could raise.
The judge said the court had to take into account the “rather large sums” cheated.
“What is often not emphasised in cases like this is the likely hardship that the accused has put the victim through,” said District Judge Ronald Gwee. “Of note in this particular case is the method in which the accused employed to cheat the victim.”
He said the court cannot ignore such aggravating factors.
The defence was granted a deferment of the jail term for a few weeks, for Seah to sort out her matters, including getting someone to look after her grandchildren.