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Man who devised scheme to cheat dates in rigged mahjong games gets jail
Marcus Ang Yi Sheng, a 27-year-old Singaporean, was sentenced to two years in jail and fined S$15,000 for devising a scheme to cheat men he contacted through dating platforms. The case involved using fake profiles and rigged mahjong games to extract money from prospective dates.
Ang created profiles of fictional women and invited men to play, while accomplices took assigned roles to limit victims’ chances of winning. The group estimated it earned about S$100,000 from at least 28 games involving 28 victims in 2024; accomplices received S$300 to S$500 per session. Ang pleaded guilty to eight charges, with 33 others taken into consideration, and his accomplice Olivia Chin was previously jailed for eight months.
In short
- Marcus Ang was jailed for two years and fined S$15,000.
- Fake dating profiles lured men into rigged mahjong games.
- The group estimated its winnings at about S$100,000.
Explained simply
Dating platforms let people meet others online, but they can also be used to make contact under false identities. In this case, men were approached by profiles claiming to be women and invited to play mahjong, a tile-based game popular in Singapore and elsewhere in Asia.
The scheme relied on several people playing assigned roles so that the invited men had less chance of winning. The case involved at least 28 games in 2024, and an accomplice had already been jailed. It shows how online introductions can lead to in-person fraud involving more than one participant.