Man jailed after cheating girlfriend and her mother of nearly $180,000 to gamble
Two days into their relationship, a man asked his girlfriend for money by lying that he was facing financial difficulties at work.
After getting the money, Gary Won Han Kiat used it to fuel his gambling addiction.
What followed was two years of persistent lying by Won when he would repeatedly ask his girlfriend for money by citing the same reason for his requests.
Won was jailed 25 months on Tuesday (12 February) after he pleaded guilty to 18 counts of cheating. Another 42 similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.
Won, a 35-year-old odd job worker, met the 26-year-old woman via messaging app WeChat on 21 October 2015. They began a romantic relationship that lasted till May 2017. The woman was working as a receptionist then.
Two days after meeting, Won asked the woman for $4,000, lying that he was a contractor and needed the money for investment reasons.
Believing Won, the woman transferred $4,000 into his bank account. The next day, Won bought $3,950 worth of chips from the casino at Resorts World Sentosa after withdrawing from the account and gambled the money away.
Won cheated the woman into transferring him money on another 23 occasions in 2015, with sums ranging from $600 to $6,000 each time.
Some time in November 2015, the woman asked her mother for financial help after Won said he needed more money. Her mother agreed and even cashed out her personal insurance policy to help her daughter.
The woman continued transferring money to Won throughout 2016. Her last transaction to Won was on 6 April 2017, according to court documents.
In total Won cheated the woman of $178,150. He made restitution of only $12,710.
The woman filed a police report on 2 November 2017, stating that Won had cheated her over their two-year relationship.
Seeking 27 months’ jail for Won, Deputy Public Prosecutor Jessie Lim told the court that Won would go almost immediately to the casino after receiving the money from the woman, showing that he had no intention of using it for work investments.
Won, who is now unemployed, could have been jailed up to 10 years and fined on each count of cheating.
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