Jail for M'sian who went MIA after getting RM2,500 deposit from woman for ride to Cameron Highlands
Christine Tan
The Straits Times
Aug 13, 2025
A driver who provided illegal cross-border taxi services between Singapore and Malaysia decided to flout the law further by cheating his customers.
Pretending he would provide them with such transport services, Tan Wei Yap took deposits from them, then cut off contact.
On Aug 13, the 32-year-old Malaysian was sentenced to seven months' jail after he pleaded guilty to three cheating charges. Five similar charges were taken into consideration for his sentencing.
The court heard that Tan, also known as "Sky", was a driver at a Malaysian company providing illegal cross-border taxi services across the Causeway.
He earned about RM1,000 (S$305) to RM5,000 monthly, but turned to cheating customers when he experienced financial difficulties.
Over about nine months from April 16, 2024, to Jan 8, 2025, Tan scammed at least five victims of about $1,862.
He monitored social media platforms for cross-border taxi services requests and privately messaged potential victims.
To appear credible, he told them he was from a firm named "Sky Ye Transport" and collected deposits from them.
Once the victims had made the deposits, he confirmed the bookings and sent them photos of a vehicle and an individual, who was actually his former boss.
On the scheduled pickup day, Tan did not appear and became uncontactable when the victims sent him messages.
One of the victims was recommended to Tan's company by a colleague when she was planning a trip to Cameron Highlands with her friends and family.
When she decided to engage Tan's services, he told her to pay a deposit of RM2,500 and said that another RM2,500 would be payable after the trips were completed.
But after she paid the initial deposit, he kept asking her to transfer more money, ostensibly to purchase "mandatory travel insurance".
The victim refused and asked him for receipts, upon which Tan added his "secretary" to a group chat with the victim. Investigations revealed later that this second mobile number belonged to Tan.
Sensing something was amiss, the victim asked him to refund the deposit. But Tan assured her that his company was licensed and that she had to pay a 30 per cent penalty if she insisted on a refund.
The victim later said she would report the matter to the police, prompting Tan and his "secretary" to leave the group chat.
Following a police report lodged by another victim on Jan 23, Tan was placed on an immigration stop list.
He was stopped on Jan 30 when he tried to enter Singapore via Woodlands Checkpoint by car at about 8am.
The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) alerted the police, and told Tan to report to a police investigation officer (IO) the next day.
They also informed him that he was not allowed to leave Singapore until he did so, which Tan acknowledged.
However, he tried to leave Singapore for Johor Bahru at 8.20pm on the same day and was stopped again.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Colin Ng said: "The accused claimed that he wanted to return to (Johor Bahru) for a meal before reporting to the IO in Singapore the next day."
Tan was arrested on Jan 31 and charged in court the next day. He did not make any restitution to the victims.
Asking for Tan to be jailed for between 26 and 30 weeks, DPP Ng highlighted the premeditation and planning behind his offences.
The authorities have lately been clamping down on illegal cross-border passenger transport services, with 19 drivers caught in a combined operation on Aug 5 by ICA and the Land Transport Authority (LTA).
According to LTA, 136 drivers have been caught providing such services since 2022, and their foreign-registered vehicles were impounded.
Those who have been charged and convicted so far have been fined up to $2,600 and had the vehicles forfeited.
