Mdm Tan, a Singaporean female divorcee had nowhere to live after her divorce and thought she was in luck when a PRC national, Ms Zhao offered to give her free lodging and a $3,000 ang bao if she married her brother, also a PRC national.
Mdm Tan first met the PRC national in a Sichuan restaurant and took up her offer of marrying the PRC man after Ms Zhao offered to compensate her for entering into a scam marriage despite her being old and ugly. Ms Zhao explained that the man wanted to get married to a Singaporean lady so as to smoothen approval for his job visa in Singapore.
Mdm Tan and the PRC man registered their marriage on 6 February 2014 and got divorced within 4 months. Ms Zhao, the fixer who arranged the sham marriage has since been jailed for 8 months but is appealing the sentence.