SINGAPORE – As a local influencer, Chin Tung Sheng had more than 334,000 followers on his Instagram account, where he flaunted the high life in branded garbs and posted pictures of himself in fancy cars and at luxury brand events.

But on March 19, Chin’s reality took a sharp turn. Dressed in a plain white prison shirt, the 26-year-old appeared in court via video link, and was sentenced to 32 months and one week in jail.

District Judge Kenneth Chin said it was clear that Chin was a prolific fraudster who committed multiple similar offences over a substantial period of time.

“His forged documents ranged from bank statements, Acra business accounts, and even a letter from the Prime Minister’s Office,” said the judge. “He also created 26 separate e-mails and 27 mobile numbers to further his schemes.”

One such incident involved cheating a food delivery rider of $63 by forging a PayNow receipt on July 21, 2022. No restitution was made.

The judge said the defence’s submission that cheating the rider warranted only a day’s jail is “wholly inadequate”, instead imposing a week’s jail for the offence.

He added that little weight should be given to the fact that Chin had no prior offences, as he had committed multiple offences – some while breaching his 24-month conditional warning imposed on Jan 8, 2021.

In fact, Chin had only stopped offending after the law finally caught up with him, the judge added.

He also disagreed with the defence’s submissions that Chin’s actions were not premeditated, pointing to how Chin had scouted a Sentosa Bungalow several times and even went there at different times of the day, pretending to be interested in renting the house.

Investigations revealed that Chin had broken into the house between November and December 2023 and stolen around $200,000 worth of designer items, including Louis Vuitton trunks and other display ornaments.

No restitution has been made to date.

Between August 2020 and April 2021, Chin created more than 25 different membership accounts to submit forged payment receipts to Ion Orchard to receive membership points.

He exchanged these membership points for shopping vouchers for the mall on at least 96 occasions. In total, more than $76,900 worth of v...