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CNA
4 days ago
- CNA
Four accused of duping woman out of her belongings in 'blessings' scam
SINGAPORE: Three women and a man were charged on Friday (Jun 6) for their purported roles in a scam that involved at least one victim surrendering her belongings for religious blessings. The man is Huang Ximing, 61, and the women are Zhong Weifeng, 58, Huang Qinyan, 47, and Huang Meiling, 56. All four are Chinese nationals. Each was handed two charges of cheating in a conspiracy. In a press release on Friday, the police said that they received a report on Jun 3 from a victim who was allegedly cheated by three women in Chinatown. Charge sheets provided more details on how this occurred. Huang Meiling had initially approached the alleged victim seeking directions to a Chinese physician, when Zhong intervened and claimed that she knew of one. Zhong added that consultations could only occur outside the premises due to overcrowding and wanted the victim to pose as her relative. She then led them to Huang Qinyan, who claimed to be the physician, the police said. The victim was then told that she was "experiencing misfortune due to negative spiritual elements". The police added that the three women and the victim then arranged to meet at Hong Lim Park, where they convinced the victim to surrender S$700 (US$544) in cash and a gold necklace with a "Guan Yin" pendant to the "Chinese physician". Huang Qinyan, who was posing as the physician, then placed the items in a black plastic bag and performed an alleged blessing ritual, said the police. The victim was instructed to store the plastic bag underneath her bed, unopened, for one month. The next morning, when the victim examined the contents of the plastic bag, she discovered that her valuables had been replaced with leaves. The police said they received another report of a similar scam in the Clementi area on Jun 4. In this incident, two women approached another victim and engaged her in conversation. After noticing cash in the victim's bag, they convinced her to place her valuables into a black trash bag for "safekeeping", said the police. The victim later discovered that her money was missing. Charges state that on Jun 3, 2025, at about 3pm, in the vicinity of Commonwealth Avenue West, the four engaged in a conspiracy to cheat the victim by deceiving her into believing that they had better equipment and techniques to safeguard her valuables. The victim was allegedly deceived into delivering an envelope containing S$500 in cash to Huang Meiling and Huang Qinyan for custody. Huang Ximing, Zhong and Huang Qinyan appeared in court via videolink, where a prosecutor applied to have them remanded for a week with permission to take them out for investigations. This was to ascertain if there were other cases of a similar nature, if the accused had other accomplices, and to conduct scene visits to recover evidence. Huang Meiling was charged separately. The court granted the application and fixed a further mention for all four on Jun 13. Through extensive ground enquiries and the aid of CCTV footage, the police were able to establish the identities of the accused. All four were arrested on Jun 5. The victim's gold necklace was recovered from one of them, said the police. Cash amounting to S$1,311 and 10,050 Chinese yuan (US$1,400) were also seized. The police urged the public to be wary of strangers who claim to provide spiritual help or blessing services. "No legitimate religious practitioner will ask for your money or valuables to be surrendered for any blessing ritual," said the police. "If approached by someone claiming you have bad luck or need spiritual cleansing, do not engage with them and call the police immediately."
Independent Singapore
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Independent Singapore
WP Team attends People's Labour Day Rally 2025 at Hong Lim Park
SINGAPORE: Members of the Workers' Party (WP) attended the People's Labour Day Rally 2025 at Hong Lim Park on Sunday afternoon (May 25). This year's rally was a few weeks late due to the General Election earlier this month and was attended by several hundred people. Among them were WP Members of Parliament (MPs) Dennis Tan (Hougang Single Member Constituency [SMC]) and Jamus Lim (Sengkang Group Representation Constituency [GRC]), along with new WP MPs Fadli Fawzi and Kenneth Tiong (Aljunied GRC). Jeraldine Pneah, who has been part of the WP for some time, was also present. Other opposition figures, including Singapore Democratic Party chief Chee Soon Juan and chair Paul Tambyah, were among the attendees, as well as Ariffin Sha, who had contested under the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) banner in the May 3 polls and who was one of the speakers at the rally. Progress Singapore Party's (PSP) Stephanie Tan was spotted as well. Many groups were also represented at the gathering, including Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (HOME), SG Riders, and Transformative Justice Collective (TJC). The rally was organised by the workers' rights group Workers Made Possible, a group of volunteers who started out supporting bus drivers and conducting research, writing, campaigning and public education regarding various labour issues in Singapore. In his speech, Mr Sha shone a light on the achievements of food delivery riders, who had successfully worked together to produce the Platform Workers' Bill. 'Remember this day, the 25th of May… Today will be the new dawn for the independent labour movement in Singapore,' he said, inviting attendees to join Workers Made Possible's endeavors . 'I want you to remember the power that we workers have in our hands,' he added, leading everyone to shout 'achamillai,' which means 'have no fear.' Although it has been customary for the WP to release a statement on Labour Day, Secretary-General Pritam Singh did not do so this year, in all likelihood due to the WP just having released its Manifesto for this year, and the WP held a rally on the evening of May 1. As a recap, here are the different aspects of labour in Singapore that the WP has highlighted. In 2019, the WP's message focused on the needs of professionals, managers, executives, and technicians (PMETs), especially older ones who have recently faced 'a myriad of challenges.' In 2021, it repeated its call for a sector-wide minimum wage of S$1,300 per month to be imposed in Singapore, which would help everyone make ends meet. A year later, the WP focused on the sandwiched class, those who take care of children and elders simultaneously amid rising living costs. In 2023, Mr Singh's message revolved around the need for redundancy insurance and leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) for the sake of Singapore's workers. Last year, the WP noted that 'change is on the horizon,' noting the challenges Singapore and Singaporeans are facing—including increased global tensions, high costs of living and doing business, the need to protect workers—at a time when the prime ministership was about to be handed over. /TISG Read also: Workers' Party May Day Statement: Change is on the horizon
