SINGAPORE – A man appeared in a district court on Dec 3 for his alleged involvement in more than 100 cases of e-commerce scams involving Pokemon trading cards, in which at least $80,000 was lost.

Eugene Kwek Yi Jun, 29, was then handed a cheating charge involving a purported victim.

According to preliminary investigations, Kwek is said to have advertised limited edition Pokemon trading cards on online marketplace Carousell.

In a statement on Dec 2, the police said: “After the victims made payment via bank transfers, they did not receive the said trading cards.

“When questioned, the man would then claim that the delivery of the trading cards was delayed and eventually became unresponsive.”

Officers arrested Kwek on Dec 1.

According to court documents, the Singaporean is said to have duped an alleged victim into believing that he had Pokemon trading cards for sale between Oct 23 and Dec 1.

The alleged victim then purportedly paid $1,800 via PayNow to another man identified as Desmond Wong, whose details were not disclosed in court documents.

On Dec 3, Kwek was ordered to be remanded at the Central Police Division and his case will be mentioned again in court on Dec 10.

For cheating, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.