Jail for Singaporean man over fake insurance claims that duped company into paying out more than S$1.88mil

SINGAPORE: An insurance agent allowed a friend, who was then working with a similar company, to make fraudulent claims, and the company was then duped into paying out more than S$1.88 million in total.

Benjamin Song Junde, 40, who was working with Manulife (Singapore) at the time, was sentenced to a year, six months and two weeks’ jail on Thursday (Oct 3).

He had pleaded guilty to three counts of cheating and a money laundering charge. Eight other charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.

Song derived nearly $470,000 in personal gain from the offences linked to the three proceeded cheating charges.

At the time of the offences, his friend, Charn Sze Choong, 38, was working as a claims assessor with Prudential Assurance Co Singapore. His case is pending.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Louis Ngia told the court that the pair were friends from their national service days and Song acted as a “bookie” for Charn’s gambling activities.

The DPP added: “Charn would place online poker and soccer bets through the accused, and would settle his gambling winnings and debts with the accused on a net basis each week.”

Song was also insured by Prudential under five policies which his wife held, and Charn was aware that Song was insured under them.

According to court documents, from June 24, 2019, Charn started entering fictitious outpatient insurance claims (FOICs) under the policies in Prudential’s Life Asia claims management system.

DPP Ngia said that Charn would then approve the FOICs in the system in his capacity as a claims assessor.

As a result, Prudential was deceived into believing that the claims were legitimate, and the company then made payouts into various bank accounts. These included Charn’s own bank accounts and those linked to Song, said the prosecutor.

After making the payouts, Prudential notified Song’s wife, who told him about them. He was aware that he had made no such insurance claims.

The DPP said that Song also knew Charn was behind them, adding: “Despite this, the accused intentionally ignored these notifications, instead of informing Prudential that he had not made any such claims.

The reason for the accused’s intentional inaction was that “Charn had told him that funds would be transferred from Prudential to his bank accounts as repayment for Charn’s gambling debts to the accused”, said the DPP.

Court documents stated that Song continued to allow Charn to make FOICs under the policies by intentionally refraining from reporting the matter to Prudential.

The prosecutor said: “Charn would occasionally cause Prudential to make payouts… in excess of the gambling debts he owed the accused.

“When such excessive payouts were made, Charn would ask the accused to transfer the excess amounts into (Charn’s) bank account.”

Due to this arrangement, Song transferred $2,657 to Charn’s bank account over five occasions in August 2019.

Court documents did not disclose how the offences came to light, but both Singaporean men were charged in court in 2024. – The Straits Times/ANN