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  • Employee Of Gadget Terminal At Sim Lim Square Jailed 28 Weeks For Cheating

    Employee Of Gadget Terminal At Sim Lim Square Jailed 28 Weeks For Cheating

    A former employee of the now-defunct Sim Lim Square electronics shop Gadget Terminal was sentenced to 28 weeks’ jail on Tuesday (Jan 5) for cheating two customers in September and October 2014.

    Justin Chew Chee Kin, 36, admitted to conspiring with the boss of Gadget Terminal, Gavin Chung Choon Cheik, 33, to cheat the shop’s customers. Chew was employed as a sales executive and earned S$1,800 a month, plus a commission on profits made by Gadget Terminal.

    Chung Choong Cheik, former general manager at Gadget Terminal. (Photo: Ngau Kai Yan) 

    Chew worked under Chung’s instructions to offer mobile devices to customers at an attractive price, before confronting them with various sales tactics after the customer made payment.

    On Sep 30, 2014, customer service officer Zhang Zhengqiang called the police after Chew demanded an additional S$480, on top of the S$300 that Chew had already collected from Mr Zhang for an iPhone 4S. When Mr Zhang refused to hand over more money, Chew threatened to complain to Mr Zhang’s employer. Despite the police’s involvement, Chew returned Mr Zhang just S$12, citing a “cancellation fee”.

    Chew cheated a second victim, student Gao Erxu, about one month later on Oct 20, 2014. Mr Gao’s girlfriend called the police after the couple paid Chew with a S$1,000 note and he refused to return them S$620 in change. Again, despite the police’s involvement, Mr Gao lost S$215 in “cancellation fees”.

    Deputy Public Prosecutor Muhammad Faizal Nooraznan pointed to the vulnerability of the two victims as an aggravating factor in the case. Both Mr Zhang and Mr Gao are Chinese nationals, and Mr Zhang has “limited English proficiency”, the court heard. The victims were “exploited and cheated” and Chew “unmoved by police presence”, said the DPP.

    As Chew presented the matter to police as a “contractual dispute”, it was difficult for police to know that any illegality was involved, the DPP said.

    DPP Muhammad Faizal cited the prevalence of this kind of offences in recent times as well. Over the past three years, the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) received 2,000 complaints against retailers in Sim Lim Square, Lucky Plaza and People’s Park Centre.

    The DPP also referred to past cases of cheating salesmen at Sim Lim Square. Jover Chew, the former boss of the now-defunct Mobile Air, and four employees were sentenced to jail last year for employing a similar modus operandi to cheat several customers of thousands of dollars.

    Chung and three other former salesmen have also been charged with cheating offences. Their cases are still before the courts.

    For each charge of cheating, Chew could have faced up to 10 years’ jail and a fine.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Mobile Air Employees Convicted Of Cheating Using Modus Operandi Taught By Mastermind Jover Chew

    Mobile Air Employees Convicted Of Cheating Using Modus Operandi Taught By Mastermind Jover Chew

    Four former employees of now-defunct Sim Lim square electronics shop Mobile Air pleaded guilty on Thursday (Oct 1) morning and were convicted on 13 counts of cheating.

    Koh Guan Seng, 38, Kam Kok Keong, 31, Kelvin Lim Zhi Wei, 32, and Lim Hong Ching, 34, had been employed by Jover Chew Chiew Loon as freelance sales executives in 2013 and 2014.

    Chew devised a ‘sales modus operandi’, which he taught to the four men, to cheat unsuspecting customers of Mobile Air. The men would receive a 40% of commission of the profits made from their sales.

    Together, the four accomplices cheated customers of almost S$16,000 by unscrupulous sales tactics. For example, Kelvin Lim pressured a customer, a Bangladeshi national working as a construction worker in Singapore, to sign a blank invoice. The foursome would also add additional items to invoices after they had been signed by customers, and refuse to hand over the purchased products until additional payments had been made.

    THE ‘SALES MODUS OPERANDI’

    Chew controlled the pricing of all mobile devices at Mobile Air, and instructed his salesmen to sell the devices at prices higher than what he would indicate on the packaging.

    Chew would indicate this ‘price to beat’ on the packaging of each device by using the letters in the world ‘S-I-N-G-A-P-O-R-E’ to represent the digits ‘1’ to ‘9’, and any other letter to represent zero.

    For example, S$1,148 would be represented by the letters ‘SSGR’.

    Salesmen who sold the devices at a lesser price than indicated by Chew would be personally liable for the difference.

    Mobile Air’s standard practice was to offer customers an attractive price for devices, and collect full payment from customers straight away. However, upon receiving full payment, the customer, instead of receiving the device, would be confronted with various sales tactics.

    Salesmen would add additional items to invoices previously signed by customers upon agreement on the initial sale prices. The men would then withhold the devices and demand further payment. This method of collecting payment in two stages, and not stating any additional payment when negotiating the initial prices, was used to cheat at least 25 victims.

    ‘A BRAZEN CASE OF CHEATING’: DPPs

    Deputy Public Prosecutors Eunice Lim, Charis Low and Victoria Ting called this “a brazen case of cheating”, noting that even the involvement of the police and the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) and the Small Claims Tribunal (SCT) did not deter nor limit the four accused’s resolve to cheat customers.

    Many of the victims were low-wage workers, with limited understanding of the English language and consumer rights. The salesmen, in several instances, also demanded victims to hand over their ATM cards and threatened to call the victims’ employers and have their work permits revoked.

    Kelvin Lim even accompanied a victim to an ATM machine to check his balance, and proceeded to empty the victim’s bank account, leaving him with a balance of just S$7.

    The men faced between one and six charges of cheating each, for which they could be punished with up to 10 years’ jail and a fine.

    DPPs Lim, Low and Ting are seeking imprisonment terms of between at least five and 16 months’ jail for the quartet.

    The men are expected to be sentenced on Oct 14.

    Chew’s case is still before the courts. He is facing a total of 28 charges.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Jover Chew Faces New Charges, 28 Now In Total

    Jover Chew Faces New Charges, 28 Now In Total

    Two fresh charges have been brought against Jover Chew, the former owner of Sim Lim Square electronics shop Mobile Air, bringing the total number of charges he faces to 28.

    These charges were read during a pre-trial conference today (July 30). Chew, 33, allegedly exhibited insulting behaviour and caused distress to a customer, Ms Zou Jing Tong, in October last year.

    Ms Zou had to pick up small change amounting to S$547 after Chew had scattered it on the floor of his shop. The amount owed to Ms Zou was part of a Small Claims Tribunal order. For this, he could be fined up to S$5,000.

    The second charge sees Chew accused of abetment by conspiracy to cheat walk-in customers between December 2013 and Sept 24 last year with Kam Kok Keong, an ex-employee.

    On Sept 24 last year, Kam allegedly tricked Ms Zou into believing that she could buy an iPhone 6 Plus for S$1,600 — a fact that Kam knew to be false. For this, Kam, 31, faces the same charge as Chew, bringing the total number of charges brought against Kam to nine.

    If convicted of abetment by conspiracy to cheat, Chew and Kam could be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.

    Mobile Air became notorious after a video of a tourist, Pham Van Thoai, going on his knees to beg for a refund at the shop went viral. The Vietnamese had paid S$950 for an iPhone 6, but was told he had to add S$1,500 in warranty fees.

    Three other employees — Koh Guan Seng, 38, Lim Hong Ching, 33, and Lim Zhi Wei Kelvin, 32 — have also been charged. They face one to 15 charges each of abetment by conspiracy to commit cheating.

    All five men are out on bail. A pre-trial conference for them will be held on Aug 27.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Mobile Air Employees Plead Not Guilty

    Mobile Air Employees Plead Not Guilty

    Four former employees of the defunct Mobile Air shop at Sim Lim Square did not plead guilty to cheating offences yesterday despite earlier indicating they would do so.

    Kam Kok Keong, 31; Edmund Lim Hong Ching, 33; and Kelvin Lim Zhi Wei, 32, yesterday asked the court for more time because they wanted to engage lawyers to “reduce charges”.

    They each face one to eight cheating-related charges, with the amounts involved ranging from S$330 to S$3,710.

    Koh Guan Seng, 38, the fourth accused, has engaged lawyer Edmund Wong, who told the court he had not been instructed if his client would plead guilty. Koh faces 15 charges of cheating involving S$9,789.

    Deputy Public Prosecutor Eunice Lim said yesterday that she was prepared to proceed with seven charges against Koh and have the remaining eight taken into consideration for sentencing, if he pleaded guilty.

    Kam will have four charges proceeded with and the remaining four will be taken into consideration for sentencing if he pleads guilty, she said.

    All of the accused are out on bail and their cases have been set for a pre-trial conference on Thursday, the same day as that of co-accused and Mobile Air owner Jover Chew Chiew Loon.

    Chew, 33, faces 25 cheating-related charges involving a total of S$14,449 as well as one charge of criminal intimidation.

    Mobile Air gained infamy last year after Vietnamese tourist Pham Van Thoai was filmed going down on his knees to beg for a refund for a phone he had purchased from there. The shop also made the news for returning S$1,010 in coins to a customer. However, both victims are not named in the charges.

    After the five men were arrested last month, the police said that their victims ended up paying for mobile phones at much higher prices or had to pay fees to cancel the deal.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Jover Chew And Four Others Charged In Court

    Jover Chew And Four Others Charged In Court

    Jover Chew, the owner of now-defunct Mobile Air, and four other men were charged in court on Friday morning over cheating cases at their now-defunct Sim Lim Square shop.

    The five men, aged between 31 and 38, were arrested on Wednesday “for a series of cheating cases”, said the police in a statement.

    Each of the five faces between one and 26 charges. Chew alone faces 25 cheating offences and one criminal intimidation charge.

    Several police reports were lodged in 2014 against the mobile phone shop for dishonest sales practices. Customers said they were coerced into buying mobile phones and in-house warranties at inflated prices.

    “These victims ended up paying for the hand phones at much higher prices or had to pay fees to cancel the deal,” said the police.

    The police conducted extensive follow-up investigations, and interviewed victims and witnesses to gather evidence before consulting with the Attorney-General’s Chambers to bring them to court.

    On Friday morning, Chew and two of the men were brought from remand in a police van to the State Courts at about 7.30am.

    Another former Mobile Air employee, Edmund Lim Hong Ching, was spotted arriving at the State Courts at 8.50am. He was reported to also be known as Ricky Lee and Wilfred, and took over Chew’s shop after the owner closed it and went missing late last year.

    Chew and his shop became infamous after a video of a crying Vietnamese tourist begging staff at the shop for a refund went viral last November.

    The tourist, factory worker Pham Van Thoai, was initially quoted a price of $950 for an iPhone 6 which he wanted to buy for his girlfriend. But he was later asked to pay an additional $1,500 for a warranty.

    Mr Thoai was told that if he failed to pay the additional amount, he would not only lose the $950 but also the new phone. He went on his knees, pleading with Chew to return his money.

    After the video of the incident went viral, online vigilantes posted Chew’s personal details online, driving him out of the mall.

    A crowdfunding campaign was initiated to raise funds to buy a new phone for Mr Thoai. About $15,500 was raised, with $1,538 used to buy an iPhone for him. But Mr Thoai declined the gift, excepting only about $200 worth of food items from Singaporeans.

    Chew also came under the spotlight for refunding a woman $1,010 in coins, which included one- and five-cent coins that came up to 18kg last October.

    The woman from China had turned to the Small Claims Tribunal after Mobile Air charged her an additional $1,400 for a mobile phone.

    Chinese evening newspaper Shin Min Daily News reported on Thursday that Chew was having breakfast with his mother the day before when he received a call to report to the police at 3pm.

    He then told her that he would have to stay at the police station for 48 hours, and would be charged in court on Friday morning, Shin Min reported.

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com