Someone named “Kelvin” had offered Kong a chance to earn “easy money” by extorting cash from prostitutes. (PHOTO: Getty Images)

On the promise of easy money, a teenager tried to blackmail a prostitute by threatening to call the police on her if she did not pay up.

However, the victim did not pay up and instead told Jonathan Kong Jia Xiong that she would report his extortion attempt to the police.

At the State Courts on Tuesday (30 October), the 19-year-old student admitted to one count of putting the 40-year-old woman in fear to commit extortion. Another count of a similar nature, involving another prostitute, will be taken into account for when Kong is sentenced.

Lured by ‘easy money’

The court heard that on 18 June this year, Kong received a phone call from a person he knew only as “Kelvin”.

Kelvin offered Kong a chance to earn “easy money” by extorting cash from prostitutes. He told Kong to visit the women and threaten to call the police if they did not pay him.

Kong agreed to the proposal.

The next day, the two met and Kelvin handed over a phone as well as some SIM cards to Kong. He also provided phone numbers of the prostitutes to Kong to call.

Failed attempt

At around 8.30pm that day, Kong visited one of the prostitutes at a flat in Hougang. The woman asked Kong to pay $100 up front for her services.

Kong did not pay her and asked her for money instead. When the woman refused to cough up the cash, he told the woman that it was illegal for her to provide sexual services in Singapore.

He then threatened to call the police to have her arrested.

However, the woman refused to hand over her money and said that she would report Kong to the police. Kong left the flat without collecting any money.

It was not revealed in court documents how Kong came to be arrested.

On Tuesday, the court called for two separate reports to assess Kong’s suitability for probation and reformative training. Kong will be back in court on 27 November.

For his offence, Kong faces a jail term of between two and five years along with caning.

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