SINGAPORE: A man posed as a female gynaecologist and created fake profiles online to lure women into sending him photos and videos of their private parts.
Malaysian Ooi Chuen Wei, 37, duped 35 women into sending him more than 900 videos and images of their private parts.
He was sentenced to 40 months’ jail on Wednesday (Oct 26). He pleaded guilty to six charges of cheating by personation, with another 15 charges taken into consideration.
The court heard that Ooi’s plan began in 2016. He made a Facebook profile with a fake name, planning to impersonate a doctor and gain the trust of victims.
To give an impression of legitimacy, he added both men and women as friends on Facebook. He also created an Instagram and LinkedIn account with similar profile details.
Between 2018 and 2021, he carried out the ruse with the following modus operandi: He would contact a victim on social media and introduce himself as Dr Janice Lee Yan Hooi, a purported gynaecologist from Gleneagles Medical Centre.
He would send the victim a template message in Mandarin, saying he was a gynaecologist and wanted to share a medical plan pertaining to the victim’s breasts and vagina.
In his message, he explained how the victim would participate in the plan, which he claimed was approved by Gleneagles.
He would also ask the victim to fill out a self-monitoring survey, with questions pertaining to the breast and vagina as well as the victim’s sex life.
Some victims took the bait and filled out the survey. In response, Ooi would fill out a Microsoft Excel sheet with the information and send it to the victim for viewing.
Ooi avoided speaking to the victims so as not to blow his cover. He also sent victims reports on what to take note of, in relation to breast and vaginal care.
He would also send another template for the victims to fill out, with samples of photos of breasts and vaginas for close monitoring.
He then instructed victims on how to conduct massages on their private parts, and asked for before and after pictures and videos, saying it was for the purpose of suggesting treatment.
919 PHOTOS AND VIDEOS SENT TO HIM
A total of 35 victims believed in Ooi’s elaborate lies and sent photos of their breasts and vaginas to him, said the prosecutor.
There were a total of 919 photos and videos of the victims that constitute the offences.
One of the victims became suspicious and performed her own research. She realised there was no gynaecologist named Dr Janice at Gleneagles.
She lodged an electronic police report from Malaysia to the Singapore Police on Jul 24, 2021, saying she had fallen prey to a scam where a person impersonated a doctor to get her nude photographs.
The police raided Ooi’s home and seized his devices. He admitted to all his offences during investigations, and described his modus operandi in detail. He said he knew the victims would be alarmed and humiliated if they knew he was not a woman.
There was no evidence that Ooi circulated the images or videos.
There were another seven victims that he attempted to cheat but was unsuccessful in doing so.
Deputy Public Prosecutor R Arvindren asked for at least 44 months’ jail, saying there was a large number of victims and that the case spanned a long duration.
Ooi started planning in 2016 and committed the offences between 2018 and 2021, with dedication, said Mr Arvindren.
He exploited the trust that the victims had in doctors, in what was essentially a telemedicine ruse, he said.
The scheme was so believable that only one victim conducted background checks and only after she had already fallen for the scheme, said Mr Arvindren.
Ooi’s lawyer Lee Terk Yang of Flint & Battery said his client had lost his job, his friends and his soon-to-be fiancee.
“Basically he lost everything,” said Mr Lee.
He said Ooi was a foreigner living in a rented apartment in Singapore, with no family with him.
Ooi’s life was in limbo in the past year and that has given him time to reflect, said the lawyer.
He asked the court to deal with Ooi with mercy, saying he was a changed man.
In sentencing, the judge noted the “sheer number of victims”, the prolonged nature of Ooi’s offending, as well as his persistence.