Cheat who pretended to be Shin Min journalist jailed for six months

SINGAPORE — A 39-year-old man who pretended to be a reporter from Chinese tabloid Shin Min Daily News and cheated hawkers of their money was sentenced to six months’ jail on Friday (Sept 22).

Malaysian Goh Ting Chee had earlier pleaded guilty to two counts of cheating and another similar charge was taken into consideration for sentencing. He cheated three hawkers of S$5,400 in total.

The court heard that on May 23, Goh visited Tong Kee Cooked Food stall at Tiong Bahru Market, which has been selling roasted meat and dumplings for about three years.

Before approaching the stall owner Tan Shen Chang — who had been looking at advertising opportunities for his stall at the time — Goh pretended to verify the name and location of the stall with someone over the phone.

He lied to Mr Tan that he was a reporter from Shin Min, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Stephanie Chew. He told Mr Tan his dumpling soup had been selected to be certified as among the best sold in Singapore and requested for three dishes to be prepared for review the following day.

Goh returned the next day armed with a laptop, tablet and a DSLR camera. He told Mr Tan he would take photos of the dishes, interview him and write a review of his stall. A food recognition certificate for the period of 2017 to 2019 would also be issued.

Goh said the review would be published on a website, but required a one-off payment of S$2,900 as the maintenance fee for the website. Mr Tan believed him and handed the money over.

Before he left, Goh also told Mr Tan that he could search for the review online a few days later, but did not provide the website address. He did not respond to Mr Tan and his wife’s attempts to reach him thereafter.

In another incident in April, Goh told the owners of Xiang Lai Herbal Bak Kut Teh (Claypot) at Bukit Panjang Ring Road that their stall had been chosen to be featured on the website Malaysiabest.my.

Goh told one of the owners, Mr Yeo Yeow Siang, that a company called Alexis Food Industry — which was, in reality, fake — wanted to enter into a franchise agreement with the stall and to expand the business. Mr Yeo was told he had to prepare a franchise proposal in two days, and Goh suggested getting a friend to help draft the proposal for S$2,800.

Mr Yeo initially “felt wary” about transferring the money before receiving the completed proposal, but Goh provided a screenshot of a fictitious e-mail between him and someone approached by a representative of Alexis Food Industry to convince Mr Yeo the arrangement was legitimate.

As a result, Mr Yeo decided to make partial payment of S$2,000.

Goh later admitted he did not have the intention or ability to procure a franchise agreement or proposal for the stall.

The third charge, taken into consideration for sentencing, involved cheating a hawker at Pek Kio Market and Food Centre of S$500 in June. Goh had pretended to be a Shin Min journalist and the money was a “deposit” for the placement of an advertisement.

He has not made restitution so far.

For each count of cheating, Goh could have been jailed up to 10 years and fined.