Another charge of cheating, involving another investment scam where he cheated S$238,000 out of four victims, was taken into consideration for sentencing. One count of forgery and another charge under the Securities and Futures Act for purporting to carry out a fund management business without the necessary licence were also factored into his sentencing.
Koo had previously been jailed for selling bogus insurance policies to clients using forged documents while working as a financial advisor with Great Eastern Life Assurance. He was given two years and eight months' jail on Jun 3, 2022 over this set of offences.
He was terminated by Great Eastern in early 2019 while being investigated for the earlier offences. He was charged for forgery offences in December 2019 and released on bail.
He was working as a Grab driver and private tutor while committing his new set of crimes.
PONZI-LIKE INVESTMENT SCHEME
He lied that he had a trading account with iFAST Financial, an investment platform, which allowed him to buy investment units at a discounted rate, and typically with guaranteed high interest rates of 10 per cent to 20 per cent.
He then sought funds from others to purchase units in investment funds on their behalf to generate returns.
After receiving their funds, Koo would send them letters of agreement stating the amount received, the specific fund invested in, the guaranteed interest rate, and the maturity date.
Koo did not have such a trading account. Instead, he used the funds to pay his own and his family's expenses, and invest in stocks and shares via investment platform Tiger Brokers.
His investments were initially profitable and Koo could generate "returns" for his investors, which led them to transfer more funds to him for re-investment. These investors also referred others to him via word-of-mouth.
Between Oct 14, 2019 and Dec 31, 2021, Koo cheated nine victims on at least nine occasions. He deceived them into transferring nearly S$7,380,000 and paid them a total of around S$5,867,000 in "returns".
Eventually, Koo's investments resulted in losses and he was unable to pay investors on time. But he lied to his victims about the delayed payments.
He claimed that his bank accounts were frozen or subject to anti-money laundering checks. He then forged a letter of demand from a law firm on the release of funds, to lend credence to his lies.
The victims suffered losses of about S$1,512,530 and Koo only made restitution of S$1,000 to one victim. They eventually discovered the ruse and made police reports against him.
Alvin Koo Jing You, 39, was jailed for seven years on Thursday (Oct 30) after he pleaded guilty to a charge of cheating.
He lied that he had a trading account with iFAST Financial, an investment platform, which allowed him to buy investment units at a discounted rate, and typically with guaranteed high interest rates of 10 per cent to 20 per cent.
He then sought funds from others to purchase units in investment funds on their behalf to generate returns.
After receiving their funds, Koo would send them letters of agreement stating the amount received, the specific fund invested in, the guaranteed interest rate, and the maturity date.
Koo did not have such a trading account. Instead, he used the funds to pay his own and his family's expenses, and invest in stocks and shares via investment platform Tiger Brokers.
His investments were initially profitable and Koo could generate "returns" for his investors, which led them to transfer more funds to him for re-investment. These investors also referred others to him via word-of-mouth.
Between Oct 14, 2019 and Dec 31, 2021, Koo cheated nine victims on at least nine occasions. He deceived them into transferring nearly S$7,380,000 and paid them a total of around S$5,867,000 in "returns".
Eventually, Koo's investments resulted in losses and he was unable to pay investors on time. But he lied to his victims about the delayed payments.
He claimed that his bank accounts were frozen or subject to anti-money laundering checks. He then forged a letter of demand from a law firm on the release of funds, to lend credence to his lies.
The victims suffered losses of about S$1,512,530 and Koo only made restitution of S$1,000 to one victim. They eventually discovered the ruse and made police reports against him.
Alvin Koo Jing You, 39, was jailed for seven years on Thursday (Oct 30) after he pleaded guilty to a charge of cheating.
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