SINGAPORE — Over three years, a woman who worked at two beauty salons tricked 24 customers into paying about S$632,000 for non-existent packages for skin and body treatments.

Malaysian Ong Siok Yong, 35, was given four years' jail on Wednesday (March 17) after pleading guilty to two counts of cheating, with another three charges considered in sentencing.

The court heard that Ong perpetrated her schemes first in 2016, when she worked at weight loss company Bottom Slim in Nex, a mall in Serangoon.

She came up with the idea of a package that she dubbed a "model package" to sell to customers. Bottom Slim did not have such packages, but Ong made this up to entice customers to place more money with her and the company.

She pitched the packages as ones that required customers to use the company's products and receive facial treatments on a regular basis, and to be photographed by the firm to document their improvements.

In exchange, customers would get to use the company's products and treatments and receive monthly reimbursements. Ong first tried the idea out on familiar customers and varied the price and terms depending on the target's spending power.

In January 2017, she began working at skincare company Asian Skin Solution and was a manager in charge of the branch at Regency House in Penang Road.

She was later entrusted with a second branch in Novena in April 2017. In her role, she managed branch operations, explained the company's packages and treatments to customers and submitted sales reports to the finance department.

She also received commissions for each package she sold to customers. However, Ong continued to cheat customers using the "model package" ruse.

One customer agreed to sign up for a model package in August 2018 and transferred more than S$23,000 to Ong's personal bank account, as the latter said her company had no bank account.

The customer thought she would get to use the company's treatment services at least twice a month, as well as the regular use of their products. In return for her payment, she was promised monthly reimbursements of S$1,166.60 for 36 months, totalling S$41,997.60.

However, Ong's schemes caught up with her as she could no longer make good on her promised payouts to customers. She tried to generate more cash by getting customers to sign up for new versions of her fake packages.

Both Bottom Slim and Asian Skin Solution caught on to Ong's ruse and took measures to mitigate their customers' losses. They are in the process of arranging to provide them with treatments and products to compensate them, and have reimbursed some of the money, said the prosecutor.

In total, 24 victims were cheated of S$632,467, of which almost S$270,000 was paid to Ong personally.

CAPITALISED ON HER RELATIONSHIP WITH CUSTOMERS

The prosecution asked for four years' jail, noting how Ong capitalised on her business relationship with customers and their trust in her expertise to induce them to part with large sums of money.

Even with the companies' efforts at compensation, the victims are left "in a troubling and dissatisfactory position", said Deputy Public Prosecutor Joshua Lim.

After signing up for the fake packages, they were promised regular payouts including benefits such as free flight tickets, hotel stays and travel allowances.

"The companies have, understandably, declined to make such payouts or provide these benefits. Even though some victims may receive facial treatments and products partially offsetting their losses, this was not the bargain they made originally," said Mr Lim.

SHE WAS "THREATENED" BY BUSINESS OWNER'S WIFE: DEFENCE

Ong's lawyer Gregory Fong, who represented her under the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme, said Ong is a divorced woman who came to Singapore to give her family in Malaysia a better life.

Initially, she helped her ex-husband pay off his debts with her salary, but after her divorce, she used her earnings to support her elderly parents.

She rose to the position of manager at Asian Skin Solution after "hard work" as a beautician at Bottom Slim, which was operated by the same owner, said Mr Fong.

He added that the idea of a package was "not for nefarious purposes" but was a sales gimmick as the company allowed its beauticians certain leeway and flexibility to decide the price of products and services they offered to customers.

Mr Fong said this "is a rampant practice in the beauty and slimming industry".

He added that his client's supervisor at the Novena outlet was the business owner's wife and "a slave driver" who "constantly threatened" Ong with termination and a penalty if she was sacked.

"Ms Ong constantly felt anxious and worried because of the threats of the penalty clause in her employment, that she fell back to using her 'model package' to entice customers to sign for services and products with her outlet to help maintain her sales numbers to placate the supervisor," said Mr Fong.

It was only an internal audit that revealed her crimes, he said, asking for a sentence of between two years and three years for Ong.

For each charge of cheating, Ong could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined. CNA

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