An insurance agent in Singapore admitted to cheating his primary school friend of SG$24,900 by issuing a fake insurance policy.
Sng Kang Xiang, 37, pleaded guilty to one count of forgery and one count of cheating, with two similar charges to be taken into consideration for sentencing, Channel News Asia reported.
The accused had worked as a financial services consultant and insurance agent for AIA Singapore for around 11 years before the fraud occurred in 2018.
Sng, who knew the victim since primary school, contacted her in March 2018 and told her about an insurance policy that was available for “absolute assignment”, where the policy would be bought from an existing policyholder.
The court heard that the victim had a “trusted relationship” with Sng, having bought several insurance policies from Sng, including policies for her mother.
The victim paid SG$24,900 to Sng by transferring it to his bank account, after being told that she would get back the amount after a year, plus an additional SG$5,293. However, no such policy existed.
The victim said that for the previous policies she bought from Sng, she also transferred the money to his account. This was contrary to AIA’s policy that premium payments should be directly transferred to them and not to an agent’s personal bank accounts, investigations revealed.
Sng allegedly used the money to pay off credit card debt and renovate his flat.
When pressed by the victim on the lack of any official policy documents, Sng sent her a forged letter with AIA’s letterhead, stating that the company had received her payment. However, the victim got suspicious and confirmed separately with AIA, causing the fraud to come to light.
AIA has compensated the victim for her losses, and Sng has made full restitution to the insurance company. He will return to court in July for mitigation and sentencing.
Each charge of cheating and forgery carries a sentence of up to 10 years’ imprisonment plus a fine.
