Man drained grandma's life savings of $280k and lied that she was scammed

Over a year, a man cleared out the entire savings of $280,000 of his grandmother, who was suffering from Parkinson's disease and depended on him to access her online banking services.

- Andrew Wong

When the 77-year-old woman asked him for help after realizing her money was missing, he lied to her that she had been scammed and later repeated the lie to the police.

On April 9, Adam Ilhan Mohamad Idhamsahbani, 22, was sentenced to 20 months and four weeks' jail, after pleading guilty to one charge of criminal breach of trust and one count of providing false information to a public servant.

District Judge Shaiffudin Saruwan had objected to the call by Adam's lawyer for a probation suitability report, pointing out that the need for deterrence and retribution outweighed the need for rehabilitation in this case.

"In my mind, this is a very serious offence. It does not show you have committed this in a moment of folly. It does not show it was committed because of the immaturity of your mind. It was planned, deliberate," said the judge.