Olivia Chin Hui Zhen, 31, was sentenced on October 1 to eight months in jail and fined S$3,000 after becoming the first member of a nine-person group to be dealt with over an elaborate cheating scheme that lured victims through dating apps into rigged mahjong games. She pleaded guilty to four charges of conspiracy to cheat and one charge of unlawful gambling, with another 32 charges taken into consideration during sentencing.
Prosecutors said the alleged mastermind, Marcus Ang Yi Sheng, devised the scheme around April 2024. He created fictional female profiles on OkCupid and Tinder and communicated with potential victims while posing as the women. Once a victim agreed to meet, a female accomplice would allegedly assume the identity used online and invite him to a mahjong game. The games were held at various locations, including SAFRA Toa Payoh.
Each game placed the victim against three accomplices working together, with players assigned specific roles such as stopping the victim from winning, quickly forming winning hands, or discarding tiles needed by another conspirator. A reserve player could observe the victim's playing style and pass information to the others. Prosecutors said Ang estimated that the arrangement allowed the group to win 99 percent of the time. In one case, Ang allegedly threatened to go to the victim's workplace and to accuse him of raping the female accomplice if he did not pay. The victim made a police report the next day. Police investigations suggest the scheme generated more than S$100,000.
The court heard that Chin had acted as a host and player, and had also pretended to cover part of a victim's losses in an attempt to get him to pay more. Her lawyers argued that she was less culpable than others in the group, had made full restitution for the games she was involved in, and did not come up with the scheme. The prosecution argued that she was still involved in the conspiracy and had taken part in several games.
According to Mothership, the rest of the group have also pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing, except for one person whose case is still pending. For conspiracy to cheat in Singapore, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined. For unlawful gambling, an offender can be jailed for up to six months, fined up to S$10,000, or both. The case has drawn attention to the growing sophistication of hybrid dating-and-gambling scams in the city-state.