Indian-origin man jailed for cheating contractors in Singapore

Singapore, Jun 4 (PTI) An Indian-origin man was on Wednesday sentenced to two-and-a-half years' jail after he pleaded guilty to 21 out of 62 charges of cheating.

Arivalagan Muthusamy, 40, cheated at least 61 victims of around SGD 3,10,000 (USD 2,40,000) over about half a year, according to a Channel News Asia report.

He would pretend to be a representative of the building management of commercial venues and ask contractors to pay a sum of money as a security deposit or for other purposes before work commenced.

Arivalagan would approach contractors and provide a bank account to receive the payment. As he needed multiple mobile phone numbers and bank accounts, he asked two other men to help.

From late 2022 to mid-2023, Arivalagan cheated several contractors for purported maintenance work.

Arivalagan was arrested on July 4, 2023 and charged in court the next day.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Maximilian Chew described Arivalagan's number of offences as “staggering”, referring to the 61 victims who were cheated of SGD 3,10,098.

The Channel quoted Chew as saying, “Not only is there a group element to the offences, such money mule activities are also additional offences themselves and which warrant the imposition of a strong deterrent sentence.” Arivalagan, who has a history of property offences dating to 2010, will have to serve an additional 88 days in jail for reoffending while serving remission from previous offences. PTI GS NPK NPK