SINGAPORE — At least five individuals were cheated of S$580 in total by a teenaged mother on online marketplace Carousell, when she deceived them into believing that she had surgical masks to sell.

Nur Atiena Mohamed Asidi had no intention of selling the item at all. Instead, the 19-year-old directed the victims to transfer their money to the bank accounts of other Carousell sellers who had items that she wanted for herself, such as a pair of Nike shoes.

On Tuesday (April 14), Atiena, who was not represented by a lawyer, pleaded guilty to two charges of cheating. Three other similar charges were taken into consideration.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Michelle Tay told the court on Tuesday via a Zoom video conference that the teenager had been advertising the sale of surgical masks around early February under her Carousell username “zeallll”.

Atiena’s first victim contacted her on Feb 18 and expressed interest to buy 45 boxes of these masks.

Promising that she would be able to deliver within two days, Atiena directed the victim to make an upfront deposit of S$100 to a United Overseas Bank account number that belonged to another Carousell seller, from whom she had agreed to buy a pair of Nike shoes of the same value.

DPP Tay said that on the same day, Atiena was contacted by another victim who wanted to buy 10 cartons containing 400 boxes of surgical masks for the price of S$6,000.

Again, Atiena lied that she would be able to fulfil the order. This time, however, she directed the second victim to make an upfront deposit of S$250 to a POSB bank account which belonged to a toy-figurine seller.

In order to receive the money that the second victim had transferred to this seller, Atiena bought a figurine from him that was worth S$250.

She then lied to the figurine seller that she had changed her mind and would only pay him once she had received the figurine, and requested that he transfer the S$250 to her via the PayNow electronic payment platform. 

DPP Tay said that Atiena never met up with the figurine seller, and the transaction was not made eventually.

A total of S$580 was cheated from at least five victims who were deceived into thinking that Atiena had supplies of surgical masks, DPP Tay said.

A probation suitability report was called for Atiena, and District Judge Eddy Tham has deferred sentencing until May 27.