Tan Shi Feng, 30, targetted the sex worker, believing that the victim would not report to the police as she was involved in illegal activity. To fuel his gambling habit, Tan fed lies to a colleague, including that his wife had run into financial difficulties or had been kidnapped. He also conspired with his brother to cheat the colleague of more money.
Tan pleaded guilty to six counts of cheating and cheating by personation, with seven other charges of a similar nature taken into consideration for sentencing. Tan conspired with two others - Liu Aik Kang, 25, and Hu Zhihao, 26 - to cheat a year-old prostitute who provided illegal sexual services.
In early June last year, the trio came up with a plan to cheat prostitutes by impersonating police officers. While discussing the plan, Tan suggested using notepads, ziplock bag and gloves, while Liu proposed bringing along a video camera. After making sure that no one else was inside, he would signal to Hu and Liu, and get the prostitute to open the door by saying that he needed his wallet. The other two would then enter and declare themselves to be policemen while Tan also assumed the same fake identity.
Tan had handed his Navy camp pass to Liu so that the latter can use it and pretend to be a policeman. At about They split the cash among themselves and disposed of the iPhone. A police report was lodged and the trio were arrested on 24 June.
Over several months in , Tan also cheated his colleague Soh, 31, as he was mired in gambling debts. Tan approached Soh at Tuas Naval Base, their workplace, on 16 July and lied that his wife June had encountered financial difficulties in her business in Indonesia. Soh sent him the sum and the two drew up a record. Tan did not intend to return the money and instead used it to gamble and repay his debts. While Soh was initially reluctant to help, Tan lied that June was in a dangerous situation.
