Online prostitution syndicate mastermind pleads guilty to offences

[Ginchiyo Tachibana]

Updated: 09/26/2013 17:32 | By Channel NewsAsia

Online prostitution syndicate mastermind pleads guilty to offences

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SINGAPORE: A man who was one of the masterminds behind an online prostitution syndicate pleaded guilty in a district court on Thursday to various offences that included living off the earnings of prostitution and harbouring prostitutes.

The court heard that 34-year-old Tan Beng Kim and a co-accused known as Gary Tan Thiam Soon ran a website called "Loveseed Club", and recruited women from Thailand to work as prostitutes in Singapore.

They started their prostitution business sometime in March 2012 with two women recruited through agents in Thailand.

In Tan Beng Kim's case, the prosecution proceeded on four charges. Five others will be taken into consideration when he is sentenced.

Investigations revealed that depending on the terms of their contracts, the women were required to hand over all their earnings from their first 10 to 20 customers to the syndicate, after which the syndicate would take a 50 per cent cut.

For example, if the syndicate paid for their passage to Singapore, the women would be required to hand over all the earnings from their first 20 customers to the syndicate.

Customers who browsed the website would call the numbers stated on it to book the girls they wanted to hire to provide the sexual services.

Tan and his co-accused would upload pictures of newly-recruited woman whenever they received them from Thai agents.

The men who hired the girls for sexual services were charged between S$140 and S$150 each time for a 90-minute session.

After making the booking, the men would then be directed to an apartment in Joo Chiat Place.

Tan had deceived the property agent into renting the property to him by using photocopied identification cards bought from an unknown person in Geylang.

The court heard that Tan would consolidate all the earnings of the women, and he would use the money to pay those who worked for him, for other expenses, as well as keep a cut for himself.

Tan's offences were "well-planned" and he took steps to evade detection, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Chen Zhida.

Mr Chen pointed out several aggravating factors in this case.

This included the fact that this was a syndicated operation with an international element, and that Tan had exploited the woman.

Another factor was that his use of the internet to conduct the business had allowed him to escape detection for a significant period of time.

"The accused is integral to the syndicate, and was one of its masterminds," he added.

Tan, who is represented by lawyer S.K Kumar, will be back in court on October 24 when his mitigation plea will be heard. - CNA/gn

 

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Two men jailed for paid sex with minors in separate online vice ring cases

Foo Kim Meng, 47, became the 22nd man in the high profile online vice ring case involving 51 men, to be convicted and sentenced. He was jailed 13 weeks.

SINGAPORE: Two men who had paid sex with underage girls from two separate online vice rings were jailed 12 and 13 weeks respectively by a district court on Monday.

Foo Kim Meng, 47, became the 22nd man in the high profile online vice ring case involving 51 men, to be convicted and sentenced. He was jailed 13 weeks.

Foo had pleaded guilty to having sex with the minor -- who was then 17 years old -- on four occasions between October 2010 and January 2011. He paid her S$500 each time.

The prosecution proceeded on two charges, with the remaining two being taken into consideration for sentencing.

The court had heard that the minor was listed as one of the escorts on a website operated by pimp Tang Boon Thiew.

Foo had come across the website and booked the minor for sexual services via text messages to Tang, who would then confirm the minor's availability. After that, Foo would book a room at a budget hotel and would inform Tang of the hotel name and room number, and would meet the minor there.

Driver Babu Suppiah (above), became the fifth man on Monday to be jailed for commercial sex with a 16-year-old student who was tricked into prostitution. -- ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW

In the second case, 33-year-old Babu Suppiah was jailed 12 weeks for having paid sex with another minor -- who was only 16 years old at the time of the offences.

She had been tricked into prostitution by her pimps Malcolm Graham Head and his girlfriend Veronica Patricia Rio. At times when the girl did not want to serve clients, they would drug her to keep her awake or assault her.

Babu, a driver, is the fifth man to be jailed in this online vice ring which involved 10 men.

The court heard that he sent a text message to Head in February, asking if the girl was available.

He later paid the girl S$400 for her sexual services after meeting her at a hotel in Geylang. He did not ask her age nor to see her identity card.

Both men could have been jailed up to seven years and fined. - CNA/ac