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SINGAPORE: A serial conwoman who cheated 12 victims of more than S$106,000 in total in various scams was sentenced to three years’ jail and a fine of S$2,000 on Wednesday (July 3).
Priscilla Shamani Manoharan, 33, is in remand, and one of her victims was a man whom she cheated of S$57,250 by making claims such as needing to pay for a Housing Board transaction and that her daughter had died, followed by her son.
She also conned the man by faking her own death, pretending to be a lawyer and sending him bogus invoices for “outstanding legal fees”.
On June 20, Priscilla pleaded guilty to six charges, including multiple counts of cheating. Fourteen other charges were taken into consideration during her sentencing.
Before handing down the sentence, District Judge John Ng said that the Singaporean offender had “demonstrated recalcitrance” even while she was on bail.
The judge also stressed that the case involved multiple victims and a substantial sum of money.
Priscilla started her crime spree in 2022.
In April that year, the unemployed woman, who was a mother of two at the time of the offences, posted advertisements on online platforms such as Facebook and Telegram, claiming to have an HDB flat for rent for between $1,500 and $1,800 a month.
However, she had no intention of renting out her flat.
Multiple people contacted her and expressed their interest in renting the flat. She then told them that they had to pay a deposit to secure its rental.
Over 22 occasions between April 17 and May 27, 2022, she cheated nine people of $37,283 in total.
Some of the victims later went to the flat and Priscilla’s father told them they had been scammed.
She was arrested on June 1, 2022, and charged in court two days later, before she was released on bail on June 8 that year.
The following year, Priscilla targeted a 23-year-old student whom she had earlier met in an online group formed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
On July 24, 2023, she told him her daughter had died, and she needed money to pay for the funeral service. Believing her lies, the student handed her $600 that day.
She cheated him 23 more times, duping him into handing over $57,250 in total. She also created bogus documents and electronic records to back up her claims.
Among other things, Priscilla told him she wanted to sell her flat, and in August 2023, she created fake screenshots of e-mails purportedly sent by HDB.
She then claimed that she had to make payments to complete the process.
On another occasion in September 2023, Priscilla met the student at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) and lied that her son had died.
She created fake WhatsApp chat records, purportedly between her and a KKH staff member, to convince the victim that she needed money urgently for medical fees.
The bogus records also stated that the hospital would “proceed to lodge a report for child negligence and abuse” as she was supposedly unable to pay for the treatment.
Between September and October 2023, Priscilla also pretended to be a lawyer called “Archana Nair” from the Legal Aid Bureau and contacted the student about some purported medical bills.
Soon after, the “lawyer” claimed that Priscilla had died and showed the student fake invoices for her “outstanding legal fees”.
The victim contacted the Legal Aid Bureau and was told that there was no such lawyer. He alerted the police on Oct 11, 2023.
Separately, Priscilla also cheated two other men, aged 35 and 45, of a total of $11,800 in another rental scam in early 2024.
For each count of cheating, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined. - The Straits Times/ANN
