Updated: 11/15/2013 12:32 | By Channel NewsAsia
Teen gets probation for cheating over S$10,800 in blogshop scam
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SINGAPORE: A 17-year-old girl has been placed on 36 months' probation for cheating more than 100 people through her blogshop scam on Facebook.
The court was told that Hock Jing Er set up a bogus Facebook page between May and June last year, pretending to sell items including polaroid cameras, contact lenses and shoes.
Together with her friend Goh Yin Hui, also 17, Hock would source the Internet for pictures of the goods they had pretended to sell.
The two students displayed these pictures on their Facebook page and customers would place their orders and make payments.
After a while, Goh dropped out of the scam for fear of being apprehended. She has also been placed on probation.
Hock continued with the scam and managed to cheat the victims of more than S$10,800.
When the date for delivery of the goods came, Hock deactivated the Facebook page.
Besides these offences, Hock also stole cosmetics from a "John Little" store at Causeway Point in October 2009. She also admitted to a charge of unlawful assembly in July 2010.
In pleading for leniency, Hock's lawyer Josephus Tan said his client is a young offender and is truly remorseful for her actions.
He said Hock, who comes from a broken family, has made it a point to stay away from the bad company she used to mix with.
In sentencing, District Judge Lim Keng Yeow issued a stern warning to Hock, saying probation need not have been considered at all.
He pointed out that the number of victims and amount cheated were large.
The judge stressed that Hock had pressed on in her scam to the "very last minute" and was the main perpetrator. But he noted that Hock has given an indication that she will change.
And given her age, the judge ordered Hock to be put under probation, perform 240 hours of community service and be bonded for S$5,000. - CNA/nd
