Influencer turned prolific fraudster jailed for over 32 months

As a local influencer, Chin Tung Sheng had more than 334,000 followers on his Instagram account, where he flaunted the high life in branded garb and posted pictures of himself in fancy cars and at luxury brand events.

- Andrew Wong

But on March 19, Chin's reality took a sharp turn. Dressed in a plain white prison shirt, the 26-year-old appeared in court via video link and was sentenced to 32 months and one week in jail.

District Judge Kenneth Chin said it was clear that Chin was a prolific fraudster who committed multiple similar offences over a substantial period of time.

"His forged documents ranged from bank statements, Acra business accounts, and even a letter from the Prime Minister's Office," said the judge. "He also created 26 separate e-mails and 27 mobile numbers to further his schemes."

One such incident involved cheating a food delivery rider of $63 by forging a PayNow receipt on July 21, 2022. No restitution was made.

The judge said the defence's submissions that cheating the rider warranted only a day's jail was "wholly inadequate" and instead imposed a week's jail for the offence.

He added that little weight should be given to the fact that Chin had no prior offences, as he had committed multiple offences - some while breaching his 24-month conditional warning imposed on Jan 8, 2021.

In fact, Chin had stopped offending only after the law finally caught up with him, the judge added.