SINGAPORE: Three men who used fake gold ingots to cheat a woman of S$ 4,000 ( US$ 3,070 ) were sentenced to six months of jail on Wednesday ( Oct 9 ).
The people – Wen Yanchun, 52 , Zhu Xiaoyuan, 51 and Kang Shouming, 62- had deceived the victim into believing that they had discovered real gold ingots while performing construction works in Singapore.
Wen and Zhu approached the prey on Jun 19, presenting her with gold-coloured bars and claiming that they were found at a building page.
To trap the target, the men produced a report with ancient Chinese writings , resembling an ancient could, which they had prepared. Wen and Zhu subsequently sought the victim’s help to confirm the value of the bars.
The target accompanied the males to carry identification checks with a smith purchase along Eu Tong Sen Street.
She was given a real silver item to confirm, rather than one of the false gold-coloured bars. The true gold part was from a ring that belonged to Wen’s family.
The people said they did not want to provide the bars to the store personnel in order to avoid raising fear, and that the true gold part was cut from one of the bars.
Workers at the goldsmith shop authenticated the real gold piece and told the victim that it was worth about S$ 450.
Wen and Zhu finally agreed with the target that she would aid them safekeep some of the false bars in exchange for cash as collateral.
She handed over S$ 4,000 in income to the people in exchange for 30 gold-coloured bars, the police said in a media release.
The target realised that she had been scammed when she went back to the goldsmith to verify the gold-coloured bars, but was informed that they were false. She alerted the authorities.