A couple in Singapore has been sentenced to jail after they conspired to scam the wife’s lover out of $220,000 by tricking him into a fake property investment.
The 49-year-old wife, Zheng Meiling (transliteration), and her 50-year-old husband, Wang Zhiwei (transliteration), were handed jail terms of 25 months and 28 months, respectively. The husband has also been ordered to repay $210,000.
According to Shin Min Daily News, the victim, a 48-year-old man, had an extramarital affair with Zheng from 2014 to 2017.
Wang used to work as a property agent between 1999 and 2006 before becoming a freelancer, while Zheng was a housewife. Both admitted to one count of conspiring to cheat.
Couple planned to cheat wife’s lover
Court documents revealed that around September 2015, the couple came up with a plan to cheat the victim. Under Wang’s instructions, Zheng lied to the man, claiming that due to the weak property market, some developers were offering unsold condo units at discounted rates to agents.
She said her husband used to be a property agent and could pull some strings. She offered to act as the middle person to help the victim buy seven units at Residences@Emerald Hill. She also promised he could sell the units later for a profit and guaranteed a return of up to $1.71 million within three months.
The victim believed her and transferred a total of $220,000 to her between September and November 2015 as deposits for the condos.
Lover realised he was scammed and went to the police
However, by January 2016, he still hadn’t seen any returns. When he questioned Zheng, she failed to provide any solid answers. Realising he had been scammed, he broke off the relationship in March 2017 and eventually reported the case to the police in December 2019.
The prosecution argued that Wang played a more serious role in the scam and recommended a jail term of 24 to 30 months for him and 22 to 28 months for Zheng. They also asked the judge to order both of them to pay $210,000 in compensation. So far, only $10,000 has been returned.
Their defence lawyer pleaded for shorter sentences of 14.5 months for Wang and 10.5 months for Zheng, and also asked the court not to impose any compensation order.
