Man faces jail term for cheating 16 victims of $200,000 in timeshare recovery scam

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Reuters

A 35-year-old man was sentenced to 13 months' imprisonment for carrying out a series of timeshare recovery scam.

The accused, Mohammad Herianto Bin Abdul Hamid, who worked as a sales representative between 2012 and 2013 at Fine Harvest Pte Ltd, and as a sales manager at Khoo & Krishnan Associates Pte Ltd. was convicted on Thursday, October 3. It should be noted that both companies purported to offer timeshare recovery services.

He pleaded guilty to nine counts of cheating offences while 19 other counts of cheating offences were taken into consideration.

Police stated that when the convict was working for these two companies, he made various false representations to potential customers to deceive them into paying for timeshare recovery services.

Mohammad Herianto also made material misrepresentations that the companies had been appointed by timeshare developers to terminate the timeshare memberships and they had successfully helped other customers terminate their memberships and recover their money.

He also showed the victims false documents purportedly issued by a third-party company which stated the amounts that the customers could recover.

Police said, "A total of 16 timeshare owners were deceived by Mohammad Herianto into handing over close to $200,000 in termination and recovery fees to Fine Harvest Pte Ltd and Khoo & Krishnan Associates Pte Ltd... They not only were unable to recover their timeshare membership investments, but they also lost their recovery fees."

Two other offenders, who helped Mohammad Herianto, were also charged with cheating offences. Both of them are currently attending the court proceedings.

The Singapore Police Force in a news released advised people to be vigilant when receiving unsolicited calls from companies or persons purporting to help them recover money from their timeshare membership.

Related topics : Singapore crime
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