Greed can often lead one to do unthinkable things, be it against their family members or close friends as long as they get their hands on the money.
A man in Singapore was recently arrested while his friend was thrown into jail after a kidnap and extortion attempt went awry. Their target? The man’s own mother.
Invited friends for poker
According to court documents sighted by Shin Min Daily News, the man named Chen Zixiang (transliteration) first came in contact with Jaivin s/o Uthirapathy via a poker forum 10 years ago.
On Jan 5, 2023, at Zixiang’s invitation, Jaivin asked another friend named Chen Shijie (transliteration) whether they could have a game of poker at his condominium the next day.
However, the game never came to fruition as there weren’t enough people to play, leaving just Zixiang, Jaivin, and Shijie in the condomenium.
Zixiang then asked Jaivin and Shijie to assist him in extorting S$200,000 (approx. RM679,000) from his own mother, a request Jaivin gave in to as he owed Zixiang money.
SG man hurts himself and fakes kidnapping
Based on Zixiang’s plan, he would contact his mother, lie to her about him being a scammer, and falsely claim that he had been kidnapped by his ‘victims’ who would only release him if she paid the ransom.
To prevent his mother from having any suspicions, Zixiang deliberately hurt his left arm and with a plastic chair before calling her on Jan 7 and telling her to transfer the money. He also sent pictures of his injuries to her as well.
When his mother told him that she didn’t have that amount of money, Zixiang further injured his left arm with a heavy object, causing it to swell.
He then ordered Jaivin and Shijie to pose as his kidnappers and specifically told them to swear at his mother and pretend that their patience was running thin while negotiating with her so that it would cause her to send the money quickly.
Plan foiled by the police
Zixiang later reduced the ransom to S$20,000 (approx. RM69,700) but she only banked in S$1,000 (approx. RM3,400).
After seeing that his plan was doomed to fail, Zixiang returned home but was shocked to see police officers at the door as his mother had called them over the incident, thus leading to the unraveling of his plot.
He was later arrested while Jaivin was sentenced to seven weeks in jail after pleading guilty to two charges of conspiracy to cheat and mischief yesterday (Oct 26).
What a horrible way to treat his own mother. We hope Zixiang will be punished for putting her through this ordeal due to his greed!
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