SINGAPORE – A recalcitrant offender committed investment scams and cheated three people of more than $200,000 in total, shortly after completing a jail sentence for similar crimes.
The prosecution said that Muhammad Farhan Zamali, who was given 16 months’ jail in August 2018, returned to his old ways within about a year of his release from prison.
He cheated his latest victims in 2020 and 2021.
Farhan, 34, pleaded guilty on Thursday to four cheating charges and was sentenced to 3½ years’ jail.
After serving his earlier sentence, he borrowed money from family members and friends in 2019 as he wanted to run his own e-commerce business.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Lee Zu Zhao said: “However, after a few months, the accused lost a lot of money and could not sustain his business. His relatives and friends also began chasing him for repayment of their loans to him.
“The accused then hatched a plan to create a fake investment package to cheat others into giving him their money so that he could repay his loans.”
In 2020, Farhan bumped into a 47-year-old friend, who was then working as an engineering technician, and spoke to the latter about a purported group investment scheme.
The friend told a colleague – a 64-year-old engineering supervisor – about Farhan, and the trio later met at a coffee shop.
Farhan then lied to the two men that he was a trader. He also told them about the purported scheme and promised returns of 20 per cent.
The engineering technician…
