A 42-year-old man posed as a Korean client out for "special services" and promised $1.36 million to a man, 28, in exchange for caning the younger man on the buttocks and burning him with cigarettes.

But the cheque he gave in payment had a fraudulent signature and could not be cashed.

Lim Jit Kiat pleaded guilty last month to one charge of forgery, and his case was mentioned in court yesterday. Two other charges of cheating and theft will be taken into consideration when he is sentenced.

Court documents said Lim first posted an advertisement on the sgyuan.com website on May 16, 2014, calling for men aged 18 to 45 to work in the "entertainment industry" and provide special services to clients.

He was working as a waiter at the time. His current occupation is not known.

The next day, Lim received a response from a 28-year-old Chinese national, who sent Lim a photo of himself upon request.

Calling himself Mr Huang, Lim then told the man he had a rich Korean client who would pay $1.2 million if the man agreed to let himself be caned and burned.

The man agreed.

The next day, Lim posed as the Korean client and met the man in Geylang. They went to Hotel 81 in Lavender Street, where Lim caned the man's buttocks with three bamboo canes and burned him with lit cigarettes. Court documents did not say which part of the man's body was burnt with the cigarettes.

As the man tried to show that he enjoyed the acts, Lim agreed to increase the payment to $1.36 million, and wrote him a cheque for the amount using a POSB cheque book that he had stolen from his father.

But the man could not cash in the cheque when he went to the bank the next day, as the signature on the cheque did not match the one in bank records.

The amount in the account was also insufficient.

The man then lodged a police report and Lim was subsequently arrested on suspicion of cheating.

For forging a valuable document, Lim can be jailed for up to 15 years and fined. He is expected to be sentenced next Tuesday.