An unemployed man signed contracts with telcos in his parents’ names to get phones which he would then sell off for cash, a court heard.

Despite being forgiven by his parents, Fong Kok Meng repeated the ruse, incurring unpaid bills amounting to nearly $3,000 in their names.

His parents, who had earlier paid another telco $4,000 from similarly incurred bills, finally reported him to the police.

At the State Courts on Wednesday (16 January), Fong, now 32, was sentenced to four months’ jail, having pleaded guilty to two charges of cheating.

Sometime around 18 August 2015, Fong initiated an online live chat with a telco’s customer service agents. Fong said he wanted to get a new mobile phone contract, and provided his father’s identity card number and photo.

Fong selected a $988 phone with a $106.17 monthly plan. The phone was delivered to him on 20 August 2015, and the cost of the phone was included in the first bill.

Some time around 28 August 2015, Fong repeated the ruse, this time using his mother’s details.

He sold both phones at a shop for $850 each, and used the cash for his personal expenses.

The telco bills for the two contracts continued to accumulate, eventually amounting to $1,387.42 and $1,354.79 for the first and second contracts, respectively, as at 22 February 2016.

No restitution has been made by Fong to the telco, and his parents have not paid those bills which they didn’t consent to.

The court heard that a few years before this, Fong had signed four contracts with another telco, similarly without any intention to personally pay for those contracts. He similarly sold off the phones which he got.

Fong’s parents paid those bills, which amounted to about $4,000. No police report was lodged then, as his parents believed that he wouldn’t repeat the offence.

For cheating and dishonestly inducing the delivery of a property, Fong could have been jailed for up to 10 years and also fined per charge.

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