6 days ago
Singapore repeat offender jailed for S$310,000 contractor scam; 61 victims duped with fake permits, no restitution made
SINGAPORE, June 4 — A 40-year-old repeat offender was sentenced to two-and-a-half years' jail after cheating 61 victims of over S$310,000 (RM1.02 million through a series of contractor scams.
Arivalagan Muthusamy, who was released from jail in December 2022, committed the offences while under a remission order that required him to stay out of trouble until March 28, 2023, according to a report published today in The Straits Times.
He pleaded guilty to 21 counts of cheating involving nearly S$154,000, with more than 40 other related charges taken into consideration. He also received an additional 88-day jail term for breaching the remission order.
Between late 2022 and mid-2023, Arivalagan posed as a representative of building management firms and deceived contractors into transferring money for fake security deposits and permits for jobs such as flooring and air-conditioning work.
He would first contact the contractors and redirect them to a fictitious 'contact person', then impersonate that person to request payments, providing bank account details under his control.
To facilitate the scams, Arivalagan recruited two accomplices, Thomas Sng Jian Wen and Ahammed Md Riaz, to help procure bank accounts used to collect the stolen funds.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Maximilian Chew said the scams were 'planned and premeditated', highlighting the involvement of others and the use of money mule accounts to carry out the offences.
Among the victims, two companies were each cheated of $10,000 after being duped into believing they were paying for a 'permit-to-work' at Capital Tower.
Arivalagan had previous convictions for forgery in 2013 and for computer misuse in a 2021 syndicate linked to gold and cryptocurrency scams.
He has made no restitution to any of the victims.
For each cheating charge, an offender may face up to 10 years' jail and a fine.
