iPhone scammer gets 16 months' jail after running a sham sale online
Justice has come for an iPhone scammer who thought he found a quick way to cheat folks online.
A 31-year-old Singaporean man has been sentenced to jail for getting over S$10,000 ($7,000) from 15 victims who thought they were buying iPhone 7 Plus devices from him.
Cai Jiaxiang, a serial scammer who has been in and out of jail for a decade according to Today, scammed potential buyers by promising to sell them iPhone 7 Plus phones if they paid an upfront deposit of S$100 - S$400 ($70 - $280) on Carousell, an online consumer-to-consumer marketplace.
A Thai buyer reportedly paid more than S$4,610 ($3,200) for three handsets, according to local forum Hardwarezone.
The scams started in September last year, when Cai advertised the iPhones. Buyers would contact him, and they would be asked to deposit a sum into a bank account after much haggling. After Cai received the funds, he would cut off communication with the buyer.
Other than Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, Cai also hit users in South Korea, where he made posts in several Facebook groups, such as this, this and this.
One South Korean user took to Facebook to publicly document his woes.
His scam became undone when buyers rallied together in Whatsapp groups after realising that they had been scammed.
One of the buyers, who successfully obtained Cai's identification card and driving licence, posted it on Hardwarezone, together with other details such as screenshots and details of the scam.
With more and more people buying goods online in Asia and in the West, law enforcement is necessary to keep ecommerce scams at bay.
I am an intern with Mashable Asia, focusing on viral news, lifestyle news and feature news in the region.
