• Tan Yong Jian’s friend had set up a CCTV camera in his boss’ house
• The camera captured the victim having sex with another man multiple times
• The pair then teamed up with another friend to extort S$50,000 from the victim using the videos
• They failed but after being charged, Tan tried to blackmail the victim again 

SINGAPORE — After discovering his friend had secretly filmed his married boss having sex with another man several times, Tan Yong Jian hatched a plan to blackmail the boss for S$50,000.

After plotting with two friends, including the one who had recorded the videos, Tan sent several threatening text messages to the victim, but his plans were scuppered when the authorities were informed.

After Tan was charged, he tried to extort money from his friend’s boss again but failed.

On Tuesday (July 27), the 24-year-old Singaporean was jailed for three years and 10 months after pleading guilty to criminal intimidation by anonymous communication and drug-related offences.

Deputy Presiding Judge Jennifer S Marie took into consideration two other similar charges in sentencing him.

The victim, only identified in court documents as a 53-year-old businessman, cannot be named due to a court order to protect his identity.

Tan’s accomplices have been charged and their cases are pending.

CREATED TELEGRAM GROUP CALLED ‘HEIST’

The court heard that one of the conspirators — the victim’s subordinate, identified as B2 — had secretly installed a closed-circuit television camera on top of a bookshelf in the victim’s house sometime in late 2019.

B2 would get a notification on a mobile application if someone was in the room and triggered the camera to start filming. He could then view what was going in in real time and record the acts through the app.

He left the camera there for about three weeks and recorded the victim engaging in sexual activity with another man in the room at least five times. He saved the videos on his mobile phone.

On March 9 last year, Tan, B2 and their friend, a 23-year-old named Daryn Ho Yong Jian, were at Ho’s house when they began talking about the victim.

They decided to extort the boss when B2 showed the others the videos he had taken.

The trio initially could not decide on how much money to demand from him but agreed that B2 would receive half of the sum for taking the videos while Tan and Ho would get 25 per cent each.

B2 then sent the videos and the victim’s contact number to Tan and Ho. B2 and Ho later deleted the videos to avoid detection but Tan did not.

The trio then got an unregistered SIM card to use to contact the victim, and set up a group chat called “Heist” on the messaging platform Telegram to discuss their plans.

‘I HAVE SOME VIDEOS AND PICTURES’

Later that day, Tan used the unregistered SIM card on his phone and sent the victim three of the videos.

He wrote: “Hi (victim’s name), I have some videos and pictures at my disposal that I think will be of interest to you.” 

When the victim did not respond, Tan sent him another message two hours later and threatened to share the videos.

In the meantime, the victim suspected that one of his personal assistants who had access to his home had recorded the videos and filed a police report the next day.

He continued ignoring Tan’s messages, so the trio decided to demand S$60,000 from him on March 12 last year.

He replied shortly after, saying what they were doing “is so wrong, whoever you are” but that he was prepared to work with them. 

He added that S$60,000 was too much because his businesses were bleeding due to the pandemic, but that he could hand over S$50,000 if given some time.

The three of them decided to accept this offer. Tan then gave the victim his word that he would not circulate the videos if the victim handed over the cash the next day.

The police arrested Tan, Ho and B2 on March 13 last year.

Tan was released on bail but tried to extort the victim again through another man named Edwyn Mahadevan, aged 28.

Tan gave the man the victim’s contact number and instructions on how to extort him. The victim then reported the matter to the police.

Tan was arrested again at his home several months later, on Sept 28 last year, and admitted to having smoked methamphetamine in his bedroom. He also admitted to buying 5g of the controlled drug from a friend for S$100.

For criminal intimidation by anonymous communication, he could have been jailed for up to two years.