Man offered MBS, RWS hotel rooms at almost half price on Carousell but didn't fulfil bookings, gets jail

Christine Tan
The Straits Times
Oct 26, 2023

Mired in debt due to his gambling addiction, a man decided to get money by selling hotel room bookings at a discount online.

He had intended to honour the bookings by using money from future orders to pay for past orders, but soon found he was not able to fulfil all of them.

But he continued to take money, and cheated or misappropriated more than $21,000 from 41 people over two months in early 2022.

Toby Lai Jun Seng, 33, was jailed for six months and 20 days on Thursday, after he pleaded guilty to three counts of criminal breach of trust and seven cheating charges. Another 31 charges were taken into consideration.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Lee Zu Zhao told the court that around October to November 2021, Lai, who frequented casinos at Marina Bay Sands (MBS), was heavily in debt due to his gambling addiction.

He decided to post advertisements on Carousell offering hotel rooms at Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa at almost half the original price. When interested buyers contacted him, Lai made the bookings online and opted for payment to be made shortly before the actual stay.

He forwarded the booking confirmation to buyers and instructed them to transfer payment to his bank accounts.

With money coming in, Lai planned to use it to repay some of his debts and to pay for some of the bookings.

At least seven people transferred him between $250 and $1,050 each in February 2022 for such bookings.

In March 2022, he received so many bookings that he knew he would not be able to fulfil all of them, said DPP Lee.

But he continued to take the money.

The bulk of the victims fell for his con in March, with at least 34 people transferring money to his account that month.

Three victims, who paid the largest amounts, transferred him $1,200 each for three-day, two-night hotel stays.

All the victims filed police reports.

Court documents do not state how the authorities traced Lai, who was arrested on March 30, 2022, and charged the next day.

He has since refunded 33 victims a total of $17,335.

DPP Lee asked for the court to impose eight to 14 months’ jail, with reference to the sentence in other similar cases of cheating via online platforms.

Defence lawyer Derek Kang of Cairnhill Law asked for five months’ jail, saying that his client had cooperated with the authorities, and had no prior criminal record.