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SINGAPORE: A man who deceived a loan shark by pretending to harass debtors but without completing the acts was jailed for 11 days and fined S $ 1,000 on Wednesday (January 6).
Muhammad Khairul Ismail, 34, pleaded guilty to one count of cheating and one count of gambling via a mobile app, and two other counts of defrauding the unlicensed lender were taken into consideration.
The court heard that Khairul found a job offer from the usurer known only as Lucas in November 2019. The offer required Khairul to close the doors of Lucas’s debtors in exchange for cash.
Despite knowing that Lucas was a usurer, Khairul contacted him with the intention of making quick money. They agreed that Khairul would close the doors of Lucas’s debtors, post notes on their doors, and send videos of these acts to Lucas as evidence.
In return, Lucas promised to pay sums of money ranging from S $ 100 to S $ 120 for each job completed.
Around December 10, 2019, Lucas sent instructions to Khairul via WhatsApp to lock a debtor’s unit with a chain and to stick a note on the door.
Khairul went to the address as instructed, but had already planned to trick Lucas by tricking him into believing the harassment took place when it didn’t.
Khairul locked the door with two bicycle locks and put a debtor note on one of the locks to avoid damaging the door. He took a video and sent it to Lucas, tricking him into believing that the harassment had taken place.
Lucas transferred $ 120 to him, but Khairul removed the locks and the note from the door before leaving. Khairul repeated this deception on two other occasions against Lucas.
The crimes came to light when Lucas sent the videos of the “harassment” to the debtors, and authorities were alerted.
Khairul also pleaded guilty to a separate charge of placing bets of around S $ 1,120 on a mobile gambling app.
The prosecutor asked for at least two weeks in jail for the cheating and a fine of at least S $ 1,000 for the gambling charge.
NOT THE TYPICAL INNOCENT VICTIM
Assistant District Attorney Krystle Chiang acknowledged that the victim of the scam was an unlicensed moneylender and “not a typical innocent member of the public.”
However, “this does not absolve the accused of having committed a crime and should not distract attention from the fact that the accused had unfairly benefited from his deception,” he said.
It would be a slippery slope to say that crimes committed against such people should not be punished, the prosecutor added.
He said that Khairul had earned S $ 340 on the three times he cheated, and that he was the one who initiated contact with Lucas.
While Khairul eventually opened the doors to the debtors, “we must not forget that he was there and violated property” when he had nothing to do there, he said.
Because Khairul did not complete the harassment, no charges were brought against him for harassment of loan sharks, but he had participated in linked activities.
The judge said this case was a bit unique because Lucas was not even supposed to have offered the money to Khairul in the first place because of the harassment of loan sharks.
As a mitigation, Khairul said that he has really learned from his mistake and feels remorse for his actions, assuring the court that he will not repeat his actions.
For cheating, Khairul could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined.
CNA has contacted the Attorney General’s Office to find out if any action has been taken against Lucas, the usurer.
