More jail time for man who got victims of ‘Ponzi-like’ scheme to hand over $7m

A man who was given a jail sentence in 2022 for forgery will be spending more time behind bars for duping multiple victims into handing him more than $7 million.

- Shaffig Alkhatib Court Correspondent

In the current case, Alvin Koo Jing You masterminded an investment scam and managed to pay the victims nearly $6 million in total as purported returns.

His scheme eventually unravelled when he failed to pay the “returns” on time, and the victims suffered losses of more than $1 million.

On Oct 30, the 39-year-old Singaporean, who made restitution of $1,000 to one of the victims, was sentenced to seven years’ jail.

He pleaded guilty to a cheating charge involving nine victims and more than $7 million.

Another charge linked to four victims and another $238,000 was considered during his sentencing.

Without revealing details, Deputy Public Prosecutor Natalie Chu said Koo used to work as an insurance agent, but his employment was terminated in early 2019 after he was investigated for selling bogus policies to clients.

He was charged with forgery later that year and released on bail.