The SME Group, a cleaning services firm, has had 3 of its staff charged with usinga phantom workers scam, the workings of such a scam being discussed in a previous post.
Stephen Lee Kong Weng, a director of the Group, was sentenced to a year's jail for his part in the scam. Tay Hian Chye, another director, is due to be sentenced shortly (before the end of August 2009) for his role in the scam (after pleading guilty to 15 charges and another 86 to be taken into account). Lim Chye Cheng, the actual mastermind, after being charged in court, has now disappeared.
The SME Group used a tactic of "recycling" its local workers. Once government approval was obtained to employ foreign workers for one company in the group, the same phantom local workers were then allocated to another company in the group for application for additional employment of foreign workers.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Phantom workers scam 1
A recent spate of trials relating to phantom workers have been appearing in the Singapore courts during the past few months.
Under Singapore employment laws, quotas are set on the number of foreign workers that can be employed in low skill industries like retail or food outlets. These quotas are based on a ratio of a certain number of foreign workers to every local worker. Therefore, increasing the number of local workers allows an employer to employ more foreign workers who tend to be cheaper and more willing to work long hours.
Problems arise when the local workers are employed in name only. Some companies list local employees who never even turn up for work for 1 day. In one case, even deceased persons were listed as employees. To give credence to claims of having local employees, companies make periodic deposits into the phantom employees' Central Provident Fund accounts which ordinarily are compulsory for all employees, and are meant for retirement purposes.
Extensive investigations are required to unearth these phantom worker scams, including interviews with all employees in a suspected company and scrutiny of payroll accounts of the suspect company.
Under Singapore employment laws, quotas are set on the number of foreign workers that can be employed in low skill industries like retail or food outlets. These quotas are based on a ratio of a certain number of foreign workers to every local worker. Therefore, increasing the number of local workers allows an employer to employ more foreign workers who tend to be cheaper and more willing to work long hours.
Problems arise when the local workers are employed in name only. Some companies list local employees who never even turn up for work for 1 day. In one case, even deceased persons were listed as employees. To give credence to claims of having local employees, companies make periodic deposits into the phantom employees' Central Provident Fund accounts which ordinarily are compulsory for all employees, and are meant for retirement purposes.
Extensive investigations are required to unearth these phantom worker scams, including interviews with all employees in a suspected company and scrutiny of payroll accounts of the suspect company.
Blogshop woman jailed
Diana Koh, a young woman aged 21 years, cheated 37 buyers using her blogshop to sell branded accessories and handbags at bargain prices.
She collected over $1,000 but never delivered at all. For this, she was recently jailed for 3 months.
Cheating schemes using blogshops have started appearing on the crime scene here. A website - www.safeblogshopper.com provides a useful service in providing information about dishonest blogshop sellers.
She collected over $1,000 but never delivered at all. For this, she was recently jailed for 3 months.
Cheating schemes using blogshops have started appearing on the crime scene here. A website - www.safeblogshopper.com provides a useful service in providing information about dishonest blogshop sellers.
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