Nearly 4 years’ jail for man who threatened to kill own mum, posed as cop to cheat another victim

SINGAPORE - A man was out on bail after committing offences including cheating when he pointed a knife at his mother and threatened to kill her.

On Feb 23, the 28-year-old offender was sentenced to three years and 11 months’ jail, six strokes of the cane, and fined $2,300.

He had pleaded guilty to eight charges for offences including criminal intimidation, cheating, possessing weapons in a public place, and misusing a computer system.

Twenty-nine other charges, including one under the Women’s Charter involving his 67-year-old mother, were considered during the sentencing.

The man cannot be named to protect his mother’s identity.

She had earlier bailed him out after he was remanded over other offences.

He was at her home on June 26, 2024, when he asked her if she would be accompanying him to court for a mention.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Intan Suhaily Abu Bakar said: “The victim replied that he had informed her that she did not need her to accompany him... The accused got angry and thought that the victim did not care about him.

“The victim then asked the accused for the $100 that she had given to him the day before... The accused became angrier at the victim. He started shouting and scolding vulgarities at (her).”

About 20 minutes later, the offender retrieved a knife from the kitchen, pointed it at his mother and threatened to kill her.

She sent a text message to her other son to tell him about what had happened, and he alerted the police.

According to court documents, the offender started his crime spree in 2023 when he told a 52-year-old woman that he was involved in “forex trading” and asked if she was interested in it.

“However... (he) did not have a trading account and did not intend to use the monies from the victim for any trading purposes,” DPP Intan said.

The woman transferred nearly $13,000 in total to him over multiple occasions in September and October that year.

During that time, he also transferred nearly $2,000 in total to this victim to dupe her into believing that he was investing her money.

Separately, the offender told a 25-year-old man in December the same year that he could help him to make “investments” through forex trading if the victim handed him a bank account.

The victim did as he was told, and the offender then relinquished the account to a third party in exchange for an undisclosed sum of money.

More than $130,000 later flowed through the account between Dec 12 and 14, 2023, the DPP said.

The offender struck again in the wee hours of April 23, 2024, when he spotted a 31-year-old man, who had fallen asleep on a pathway in Ang Mo Kio after a drinking session.

He then took the man’s wallet containing bank cards, woke him up and pretended to be an off-duty police officer.

He even showed this victim a card which bore a police logo.

The offender then asked the victim for the PIN linked to one of the cards and he later used the card to withdraw over $1,000 in total.

This victim lodged a police report the next day and the offender was arrested the following month.

While out on bail in April 2025, the offender went to a 22-year-old woman’s home over an undisclosed matter, and she alerted the police.

Officers later found that he had two knives on him.

He was remanded again soon after, and has not been released since.