Ex-insurance agent uses fictitious scheme to cheat man of $543,000

A former insurance agent admitted in a district court that he duped a man into transferring more than $543,000 to him over 35 occasions between March 2018 and March 2019.

- Shaffiq Alkhatib

Andrew Tiew Siew Ing, 44, whose employment with an insurance firm was terminated in May 2018, managed to convince the victim to take part in an "investment opportunity" that did not exist.

On Nov 25, Tiew, who has since made more than $16,000 in restitution to the victim, pleaded guilty to two cheating charges and an unrelated assault charge.

He cheated the victim, 44, who is a son of a former customer, of another $30,400 in 2019.

This time, Tiew claimed that he needed money to process the sale of his properties in Malaysia, and that the funds raised would be used to purportedly repay the victim's "investment monies".

But Tiew did not own any properties in Malaysia, and instead used the ill-gotten gains to gamble at the Marina Bay Sands casino.