2020 Little India kidnap victim now accused of using fake PayNow screenshot to buy $3,599 laptop at IT show
A 34-year-old man was charged on Nov 3 with cheating for using a fake PayNow screenshot to buy a laptop at an IT show.
Singaporean Andrew Lim Zi Kai had allegedly committed the offence while visiting The Tech Show 2025 at Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre on Oct 31 at about 8.30pm.
He is accused of intentionally deceiving a Mr Prince Pal Singh into believing that a payment of $3,599 was made for the purchase of a Lenovo Legion Pro 7 laptop.
The police said they were alerted to the case on Nov 1 about 12.40pm. Lim had allegedly produced an edited screenshot of a PayNow transfer and left with the laptop without making actual payment.
He was arrested within three hours.
Preliminary investigations revealed that Lim is believed to be involved in five other similar cases of cheating.
Stomper Voo, an owner of a phone shop in Ang Mo Kio Town Centre, alleged that he was almost scammed by Lim on Oct 16.
"This guy came to my shop, tried to buy a phone from me and showed me a fake PayNow screenshot," recouunted the Stomper.
"I checked on my account and the transaction never went through. So he said he would call the bank. In the end, he said he transferred the money to the wrong UEN number.
"Luckily, I never kena. So I sent his photo to all my mobile shop friends and asked them take note of this guy."
Stomper discovered that Lim had allegedly used the same ruse at other shops.
This is not the first time Lim has been in the news.
On Aug 16, 2020, Lim was driving a Ferrari into a service road off Verdun Road in Little India when a white Audi pulled up in front of his car.
Four men leapt out of the Audi to confront Lim and forced him to kneel before bundling him into their car and speeding away, reported Lianhe Wanbao.
The four men were arrested the next day for wrongful confinement. The police said the men had held Lim to demand the return of money he had purportedly stolen from one of them in an e-commerce scam.
Lim was in the news again in February 2023 when he was sentenced to five years and 10 months' jail after pleading guilty to nine charges, including snatch theft and multiple counts of cheating involving nearly $700,000.
His victims included a 29-year-old woman he met through a dating website, reported The Straits Times.
She transferred $271,000 to him from May 1 to June 5, 2020, after Lim told her about his purported face-mask business.
Lim later told her that he needed $60,000 for a car business.
The woman later sensed that something was amiss and alerted the police.
