• Chong Wee Yew committed cheating offences from 2016 to 2017
• He advertised cheap hotel stays to victims
• He also offered “investment” schemes involving hotel room stays, among others
• The 56-year-old was jailed seven years and seven months

SINGAPORE — To fuel his gambling habit, Chong Wee Yew duped victims into paying for cheap hotel room stays at Marina Bay Sands (MBS) as well as “investing” in schemes that promised “high returns”. 

In all, the 56-year-old Singaporean cheated 77 victims of about S$1 million from October 2016 to October 2017. 

One victim paid almost S$300,000 to him within that period to book “cheap” hotel rooms at MBS. 

The victim eventually made a police report against him on Oct 29, 2017 after Chong ignored many requests to return the money owed.

On two separate occasions, Chong not only cheated a 29-year-old victim but also molested her in an MBS hotel room when she went to the room to speak to him about what he owed her.

She was so traumatised by this that she broke up with her boyfriend, not wanting to have physical contact with any man.

On Friday (May 21) Chong was jailed for seven years and seven months. 

He pleaded guilty to 17 charges of criminal breach of trust, cheating and outrage of modesty, with another 103 similar charges taken into consideration for sentencing.

HOW IT BEGAN

As a member of the casino at MBS, Chong profited from selling his free MBS hotel stays but soon started to branch out and buy free hotel stays from other MBS members to resell them.

He asked customers to pay a deposit for each room and then used what he collected to gamble, buy hotel room stays for earlier customers or pay off those who were chasing him for investment returns.

In relation to the fake investment scheme, Chong convinced one victim to invest S$6,000 in buying hotel stays at the Hard Rock Hotel Singapore in Sentosa, lying that she would get a fixed monthly return of 19.1 per cent.

He also got another victim to invest S$60,000 in his company to become an “elite member” and get a fixed monthly return of 14.8 per cent.

INSISTED ON MASSAGING WOMAN 

On Sept 27, 2017, Chong invited the 29-year-old woman to a hotel room in MBS. 

She had transferred more than S$30,000 to his bank account for his room-booking business, thinking she would receive fixed profits in return.

When she asked him to return the money, he insisted on giving her a foot massage first to “help her relax as she was too tense”, prosecutors told the court.

She rejected it but eventually gave in when he said that he would not discuss the money issue otherwise.

He massaged her forehead before suddenly kissing it, then tried to hug her and kiss her on the lips. She immediately left.

About a month later, they met at an MBS hotel room again as she was desperate to get back her money, having borrowed from banks to join his scheme.

During their meeting, she broke down and cried. Chong then molested her several times. She pushed him away and left.

The court heard that she was “severely affected” by the incidents, growing fearful in the company of male friends and ending her relationship with her boyfriend of two years.

Chong could have been jailed up to 10 years and fined for each cheating charge, while criminal breach of trust carries a maximum punishment of seven years’ jail or a fine, or both. 

Molestation is punishable by up to two years’ jail, a fine, caning, or any combination of the three.