Jail for financial adviser who forged subordinates’ signatures to sell policies for more commission
Claudia Tan
The Straits Times
March 30, 2026
To increase her income, a financial adviser devised a scheme to register her clients’ policies under other agents’ names, so that she would get both a sales commission and the fee supervisors get when their subordinates sell a policy.
Goo Tze Ling, 35, was sentenced to eight months’ jail on March 30 after pleading guilty to four charges, including two counts of forgery.
Two of her subordinates “agreed to participate in the scheme as they trusted (Goo), and it would assist them in achieving their sales targets”, Deputy Public Prosecutor Natalie Chu told the court.
Jimmy Ling Xiao Ting earlier pleaded guilty to one count of abetment and was fined $3,000. May Oo Thin was dealt with separately, stated court documents without further details.
Goo joined Manulife as a representative and unit manager in March 2020. She supervised a team comprising at least five people.
That same year, Goo came up with an idea to earn both a sales commission for investment-linked policies she sold as well as the fee she would get when her subordinates completed sales.
She did this by registering the policies she sold under either Jimmy or May’s name, after accessing their company accounts and forging their signatures on the policy documents.
She also instructed Jimmy and May to transfer their commissions and bonuses to her.
In this way, she earned more than $25,000 from two clients.
In November 2022, one of Goo’s clients and her son filed a complaint with the Monetary Authority of Singapore after discovering that her policy documents bore May’s signature.
Following investigations, a compliance officer with Manulife made a police report against Goo in January 2024.
In response to queries from The Straits Times, a spokesperson for Manulife confirmed that Goo’s employment was terminated in 2024 following the internal investigations into the forgery allegations.
Jimmy and May are also no longer with the company.
The spokesperson added: “Manulife has zero tolerance for wrongdoing and remains committed to upholding high ethical and professional standards. We expect all our financial representatives to adhere to these standards at all times.”
DPP Chu sought a sentence of between eight and 12 months’ jail for Goo, noting that her offences were premeditated and planned.
The prosecutor added that Goo had abused her position on multiple levels, by breaching the trust Manulife placed in her to manage her supervisees, and the trust placed in her by her supervisees and her clients.
For forgery, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.
See something interesting? Contribute your story to us.
