Desperate to clear his gambling debts, he agreed to work for his creditor by using counterfeit credit cards to purchase luxury goods.
The deal Bryan Kung Ven Hong was offered was a 10 per cent commission of the total price of the items he successfully buys, with an iPhone and a Korea trip thrown in if he manages to chalk up S$20,000 in fraudulent purchases.
As it turned out, the 22-year-old Malaysian’s ruse was foiled after just a trip to casual clothing retailer Uniqlo.
Today (June 5), Kung was sentenced to four years’ jail for seven charges of possessing forged valuable security and four charges of dishonestly inducing deceived persons to deliver a property. The prosecution proceeded with four charges, while the remaining were taken into consideration for his sentencing.
The court heard that sometime around May or June last year, Kung incurred gambling debts to a Chinese male known as Leon in Sabah.
On March 20 this year, Kung agreed to work for Leon by using fake credit cards to purchase expensive items, such as watches, and introduced a friend to do the same. He was also instructed to apply for a passport.
He was promised a 10 per cent commission of the total price of items he successful purchased, and an additional 1.25 per cent commission for every successful purchase made his friend.
On March 29, Kung and his friend arrived in Johor Bahru at around 7pm and they were each handed a stack of counterfeit credit cards embossed with his name and some cash as “pocket money” by someone called Paul.
Paul then told Kung that he would be brought to Singapore, while his friend would go to Thailand, the court heard.
The following day, Paul introduced Kung to his accomplice Kek Chee Leong, 24.
Paul promised Kung an iPhone as a reward if the items they “purchased” amounted to S$20,000, and said he will be sent to Korea after the trip to Singapore.
When Kung and Kek arrived in Singapore that evening, Kung first proceeded to a Uniqlo store along Orchard Road and bought clothes using one of his counterfeit cards. He had wanted to “look presentable when making fraudulent purchases of expensive items”, the court was told.
At about 6.15pm, he entered a Tag Heuer luxury watch boutique and selected four watches worth a total of S$52,160.
When the transaction was declined, a senior sales consultant at the shop took a picture of his counterfeit card, sent it to a UOB bank officer for verification, and was told that it was bogus.
The bank officer made a police report while the senior sales consultant stalled for time by asking Kung to present other cards for payment, all of which were rejected. He was arrested at 10pm at the boutique. Seven counterfeit credit cards were found in his possession.
In sentencing, District Judge Luke Tan noted that Kung was part of a transnational counterfeit credit card syndicate based in Malaysia, and his offences were well-planned and involved a number of people in and outside of Singapore.
Kek will be back in court on June 11 for a pre-trial conference.
Source: www.todayonline.com
