Singapore renovator gets 16 months’ jail for cheating clients of S$40,000+

SINGAPORE: A location renovation contractor who cheated clients out of more than S$40,000 that he used for personal expenses was given a jail sentence of 16 months on Tuesday (May 5).

He has also been slapped with a fine of S$13,140.

Moreover, 44-year-old Shen Kaibin (transliterated) has been ordered to pay compensation of S$22,000, according to a report in Shin Min Daily News.

Shen was charged with cheating, criminal breach of trust, and forgery. He pleaded guilty to two charges, and the other two were taken into consideration for his sentencing.

The report said that Shen owns a company called WS Renovation. From 2022 to 2023, aside from his work as a renovation contractor, he also worked with an interior design company that subcontracted work to him. Customers of the interior design company would pay for the services of the firm, which would then share profits with Shen after the completion of renovation works.

In February 2023, a homeowner interested in renovation placed an inquiry with the interior design company through a message on Instagram. Shen was able to obtain the homeowner’s contact details and proceeded to reach out to them. Shen told the homeowner on March 5 that the renovation they wanted would cost S$55,000 and asked for a 10% down payment.

The homeowner was then instructed by Shen to deposit S$5,500 into his personal account. Between March 6 and 27, Shen received a total of S$30,250 from the homeowners for bogus renovation costs, and he forged three receipts from the interior design company and issued them to the homeowner.

Shortly afterwards, the homeowner and Shen got into multiple disputes concerning the renovations, prompting the homeowner to reach out to the owner of the interior design firm to complain about Shen. This is when they found out that the fees they paid had not been deposited into the account of the company.

On the part of the owner of the interior design firm, they were not even aware that the homeowner was supposed to be one of their clients.

In another incident from February 15, 2023, a client of the interior design company bought around S$8,400 worth of materials for a bathroom renovation. Shen, however, told the client that Shen paid for the items for the client, which caused the company to reimburse this amount to him. /TISG

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