Jail for ex-insurance agent who cheated victim of over $543k in fictitious investment scheme

 A former insurance agent who duped a man into transferring more than $543,000 to him over 35 occasions from March 2018 to March 2019 was sentenced to two years and eight months’ jail on Dec 9.

Andrew Tiew Siew Ing, 44, who had managed to convince the victim to take part in an “investment opportunity” that did not exist, pleaded guilty to two cheating charges and an unrelated assault charge on Nov 25.

Four more cheating charges were considered during his sentencing.

Tiew, whose employment with an insurance firm was terminated in May 2018, has since made more than $16,000 in restitution to the 44-year-old victim.

In earlier proceedings, Deputy Public Prosecutor Lee Da Zhuan said the scammer was working as a bank relationship manager when he got to know the victim’s mother, who became his customer.

Tiew later joined an insurance firm, and he told the woman’s son in January 2018 about an “investment scheme” linked to insurance policies.

Tiew claimed that he was working with a team at another insurance firm and that the scheme provided “good returns”.

According to him, the scheme involved creating insurance policies using the names of fake clients.

The DPP had told the court in November: “Further details of this scheme were not shared with the victim.

“However, the accused informed the victim that the investment opportunity would provide the victim with returns of between 10 per cent and 40 per cent on the sums invested.

“The victim knew from the accused’s representations that the investment schemes required creating insurance policies with fake credentials. But he nevertheless agreed to participate in the investment scheme, as it guaranteed high returns for him.”

This “investment opportunity” did not exist, and the unsuspecting victim later transferred more than $543,000 in total to Tiew.

In 2019, Tiew cheated the victim of another $30,400.

This time, he claimed that he needed money to process the sale of his properties in Malaysia, and that the funds raised would purportedly be used to repay the victim’s “investment monies”.

But Tiew did not own any properties in Malaysia, and he instead used the ill-gotten gains to gamble at the Marina Bay Sands casino.

Believing the lies, the victim transferred the $30,400 to Tiew over five occasions between April and June 2019.

The victim alerted the police in May 2020.

In an unrelated case, Tiew was working as a delivery rider when he got into a dispute with a 50-year-old man over a parking space in River Valley Road on April 4, 2024.

Tiew punched the older man, who suffered multiple facial fractures and was treated at Singapore General Hospital.

Source: Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Permission required for reproduction.

ADV: Research Position at Centre for Banking & Finance Law ‘Highly dangerous’ man accused of stabbing priest in church denied bail