Singapore police said on Friday that a 27-year-old man has been arrested over several cases of cheating involving the sale of discounted shopping vouchers online.
The authorities said in a press release that they received a report from a victim at about 5.50 pm on Monday. The victim claimed the suspect was selling S$380 worth of shopping vouchers at a discounted price of S$300 on online marketplace Carousell.
Reports said the victim placed an order and met up with the man, who handed over a sealed envelope to her in return for the cash payment. The man left immediately after the payment so that the victim could not verify the contents of the envelope.
According to the victim, she later realized that the envelope contained only S$30 worth of shopping vouchers and other unrelated documents. On Wednesday, the Central Police Division officers identified the suspect and arrested him.
The police said the man is believed to be involved in several similar cases of cheating and investigations against him are still going on. If convicted, he might face a jail sentence of up to 10 years along with a fine.
The report said there have a number of cheating cases involving the use of Carousell in recent months. Two men were arrested last month after they failed to deliver tickets to a Coldplay concert in Singapore after touting them on Carousell and receiving payment from several victims.
In January, Singapore court sentenced a 31-year-old man to 16 months' jail for cheating shoppers, who were looking to buy new iPhone 7s on Carousell of more than S$10,000 in less than a month.
The police have advised the members of the public to take precautions while making an online transaction. They urged the public to buy only from reputable vendors. One should also check the goods before making payments wherever possible and avoid giving out information that is unnecessary for the purchase.
