Conman who faked her death and cheated aunt of nearly S$114,000 gets 20 months in jail

SINGAPORE: A con artist faked her death and posed as two lawyers to trick her 61-year-old aunt into transferring cash worth a total of nearly S$114,000 to her.

The aunt, who was working as a clerk at the time, only quit when she realized she no longer had the money to make the transfers.

Dionne-Edna Lin Lilian, 39, who failed to make restitution, was sentenced on Tuesday (October 15) to one year and eight months in prison.

She had pleaded guilty to one charge of deception and impersonating a lawyer – an offense under the Legal Profession Act.

Lin had posed as her father, the aunt’s brother-in-law, and contacted the victim in January 2019, claiming that Lin had died.

She then posed as a lawyer named ‘Daslin Ang’, contacted the elderly woman and lied that Lin had left a sum of money as a so-called inheritance.

Lin posed as a lawyer and told her aunt that she had to pay some “processing fees” to receive the money.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Eugene Phua said the aunt had initially refused to transfer the money because she did not want to deposit cash into unknown bank accounts.

Lin then told her aunt that she could transfer the money to an account belonging to Lin’s father.

DPP Phua added: “The victim agreed because the suspect misled her into believing that (the father) was also one of the beneficiaries of the suspect’s will and would take the lead in distributing the to facilitate inheritance.”

The victim, who was unaware that Lin controlled her father’s bank account, then transferred cash to it.

Between May and June 2019, Lin posed as another lawyer named “Phil Tong,” who would take over Daslin’s job.

Lin, who posed as “Phil Tong,” said Daslin had been suspended for two weeks for allegedly being negligent in handling a client’s money.

Lin kept asking for more money and her aunt complied.

The elderly woman transferred a total of nearly $114,000 29 times between January 31 and June 4, 2019.

Court documents do not show how the facts came to light, but the aunt filed a police report on June 28 of that year.

DPP Phua asked the court to sentence Lin to a maximum prison term of one year and 10 months, stressing that the perpetrator had robbed her aunt of her savings.

He said: “The suspect’s lies were sophisticated because they were involved as a lawyer to guide her aunt through a complex inheritance case, using several telephones…The suspect made up lies after lies to get her aunt to give her the money to transfer. .”

Lin’s bail was set at $16,000 on October 15 and she is expected to begin serving her sentence on October 25. – The Straits Times/ANN