Folks, this is exactly why our mothers said no to Grand Theft Auto when we pushed for it at the age eight. Advisories exist for a reason.
You and I probably had the same thought process then, “But I wouldn’t push an old lady off her car just so I can cruise about hitting other old ladies on the pavement!”
Well, it isn’t ridiculous now that you’re reading this and thinking, “People actually do that?”
Indeed, inspired by the long-running television series, Crimewatch, an unemployed couple has been found guilty of scamming almost S$10,000 worth of promised Nintendo Switches and DJI Drones on Carousell.
Running Scams on Carousell as a Means for Quick Cash
The crime documentary-drama, CrimeWatch, had convinced the duo that running scams was the easiest method for some quick cash. The two were unemployed at that time when they began doing so.
Ironic how Crimewatch was made for the purpose of preventing crime. Yet here comes a few anomalies claiming to have been inspired by situations that ought to be avoided.
For about year into their scamming business, the suspects, 30-year-old Mr Muhammad Haadii Asmadi and his fiancé, Sushilawati Selamat, had collected almost S$10,000 of dirty money from over 30 victims.
Yesterday (18 May 2020), Mr Haadii was sentenced to 10 months of jail time after pleading guilty to 9 cheating charges. Another 24 similar charges were also taken into consideration for his sentence.
His fiancé and Bonnie Elizabeth counterpart was jailed for eight months in December of 2019 for her involvement in their scamming business.
Couple Cheated People By Selling Them Game Consoles and Drones
TODAYonline reported that the couple cheated unsuspecting buyers by selling them Nintendo Switch game consoles and accessories, as well as, DJI Mavic Pro 2 drones. An electric scooter was also on the list.
At least they knew what was on demand! Your Animal Crossing: New Horizon memes have done some decent service for these two. Tom Nook wouldn’t be proud.
Once a buyer had expressed interest, the duo would proceed to tell them to transfer money into either of their accounts.
The couple would come up with an extensive amount of issues to present the buyer. All of which would convince them into sending more money just so they could receive their products before falling out of contact.
Before I continue, I would like to present this song to you; listen to it before you read on:
For each instance that their accounts were suspended for fraudulent activity, they would set-up another to continue the run of their scams. In total, the couple used four different accounts.
It is said that Sushilawati had even purchased an ink stamp with the name of one of their accounts just to con people into thinking they provided legit services.
At the most, the couple had scammed one unfortunate buyer off $3,440 for two sets of DJI Mavic Pro 2 drones with extra batteries.
Couple Faces Up To 24 Police Reports from 2018 to 2019
The court heard that the duo was subject to 24 different police reports made between September of 2018 and March of 2019.
Upon Mr Haadii’s release on bail on March of last year, he gave the police a number of excuses so as to avoid Ms Sushilawati’s arrest. He lied saying that his fiancé was in the hospital recovering from an operation.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP), Tay Jia En, told the court: “When it became clear that the couple was merely stalling investigations, the police finally arrested Sushilawati on Sept 18, 2019. Haadii, however, continued to evade investigators.”
Similarly, Mr Haadii also gave excuses so as to deter the police from reporting to them. Mr Haadii was arrested on 6 November 2019 after seven more reports were made against him.
His lawyer, Caryn Lee, explained that her client’s family had apparently chased him out of the house in 2017. This resulted to the latter living in Changi Beach Park for three years.
Wah.
“He was desperately in need to buy daily necessities and could not find a full-time job,” said Ms Lee.
Mr Haadii’s bail was revoked but he has made a partial restitution of S$299. According to the report, he could have been given a jail term of up to 10 years, and fined for each charge.
Take note kids, do not simply follow what you see on television!
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As for avid buyers on Carousell, do yourselves a favour. Check on the credibility of your sellers before you commit to a purchase. Police reports do not guarantee you a full refund of the amount that you have lost.
To keep yourself updated with scams in Singapore, do subscribe to our YouTube channel as we’ve some anti-scam videos we did with SPF, like this: