SINGAPORE – A scammer deceived several people into transferring cash totalling more than $400,000 to him.

Muhammad Nur Shukry Zaini, 23, also deceived some of his victims into handing him multiple mobile phones worth nearly $40,000 in total.

On March 13, he was sentenced to four years and two months’ jail, and a fine of $1,200.

For a traffic offence, he was also disqualified from holding or obtaining all classes of driving licences for a year from his release date.

Nur had pleaded guilty to multiple charges for offences such as drug consumption and seven counts of cheating linked to an investment scam.

He also pleaded guilty to three other cheating charges in which he duped three people into handing him seven mobile phones worth more than $14,000 in total.

More than 20 charges, including those relating to the remaining phones, were taken into consideration during his sentencing.

On the investment scam, Deputy Public Prosecutor Bryan Wong said Nur had enticed his victims to invest in “high-returns and low-risk investments”.

However, he could not generate and had no capability of generating such returns. He told investigators that he had committed the offences to sustain the expenses of others, including his girlfriend.

He has not made restitution to most of the seven people he duped in the investment scam.

Of the victims, one man lost $190,000 – the highest amount involved in the scam – in 2021.

The man was a shareholder in a cleaning company who found out that one of his business partners had invested a portion of the firm’s funds with Nur.

In August 2021, the victim got to know Nur, who, two months later, told him about an “investment scheme”.

DPP Wong said: “He promised to pay his investors 10 per cent of their invested capital per month for a nine-month period.

“The accused also represented to the victim that the invested funds would be used for forex trading. The accused knew that such high returns were not possible.”

Believing him, the victim decided to invest $190,000 in total.

Soon after, Nur failed to pay the man the promised monthly investment returns.

Suspecting that he had been scammed, the man decided to terminate his investment with Nur, who has not made any restitution to him.

Six others, who also fell for the scam, alerted the police.

Nur was arrested on Jan 13, 2022, but he was out on bail two days later.

On Aug 24 that year, Central Narcotics ...