Man jailed after causing victims to lose more than $176,000 in car rental scam

Published Sep 15, 2026, 04:14 PM

Updated Sep 15, 2026, 04:14 PM

Soon Yunn Chiuan ran a car rental business on Carousell but faced cash flow problems, leading him to deceive customers and take payments despite knowing cars would be repossessed.

He cheated customers 40 times, causing losses over $176,000, and used payments to cover other rental fees and personal expenses, continuing the scheme until 2025 under aliases.

Soon also forged a hire letter from Zupreme Services to mislead a client, resulting in $13,400 paid to him, for which he partially repaid $1,850 after being caught and jailed for 3.5 years.

SINGAPORE – A car rental business owner was handed a jail sentence over a scheme which saw him subletting vehicles to his clients that he had leased from other firms.

Soon Yunn Chiuan induced them into delivering payments to him, thinking they were servicing their rental agreements. In reality, he was using the funds to cover business costs and his own personal expenses.

The 50-year-old was on Sept 15 handed a three year and six months’ jail term after he pleaded guilty to five cheating charges and one forgery indictment.

Another 35 cheating charges were taken into consideration for his sentencing.

His business ran into trouble when he could not keep up with payment to the other firms, and the cars were repossessed from Soon’s customers who had paid upfront or were making monthly payments.

In all, Soon received more than $295,400 from hirers who thought they were renting cars from him. They suffered a total of $176,273.50 in losses when the cars were repossessed.

The court heard that Soon’s business was initially profitable, although he ran a car rental business without actually having any of his own cars.

He hatched the plan when he started his business in 2023 on the online marketplace Carousell.

After his clients indicated the make and model of the car they were looking to rent, and agreeing on the price, Soon would check against the stock at other car rental firms.

He would then ask for either a lump sum payment or a deposit from his customers, and use the money to pay the other car rental firms on a weekly or monthly basis.

The business model initially turned a profit.

But Soon ran into trouble in March 2023 after he expanded his business and rented more cars for subletting, but could not keep up with payments.

By then, he was also using the money his clients paid him to cover his personal expenses.

He did this knowing that if he missed payments to the other car rental firms, the vehicles he had sublet to his own customers would be repossessed.

But Soon stuck to his guns, sometimes taking payment upfront to cover the whole rental period.

By 2025, he was advertising his business on Carousell using different company names to prolong his scheme. He also avoided customers who learnt that he had cheated them.

The forgery charge related to an incident in 2024 after he became acquainted with the owner of Zupreme Services, a car rental business he had been leasing from for some time.

Zupreme had agreed to let Soon sublet its cars, with his customers singing contracts that had the firm’s details.

The contract was meant to be used only for cars owned by Zupreme, but in August 2024, Soon used it to mislead a customer into renting a car belonging to another firm.

As a result of the contract bearing Zupreme’s details, the client paid to Soon $13,400 for a rental period of 18 months .

He has since made $1,850 in restitution to the client.

发布于 2026 年 9 月 15 日下午 4:14

更新于2026年9月15日下午4:14

Yunn Chiuan 最初在 Carousell 上经营汽车租赁业务，但面临现金流问题，导致他欺骗顾客，明知汽车会被收回仍收取款项。

他欺骗顾客 40 次，造成超过 176,000 美元的损失，并将所得款项用于支付其他租金和个人开支，并使用化名继续实施该骗局直至 2025 年。

Soon 还伪造了 Zupreme Services 的雇佣信，误导客户，骗取了 13,400 美元，被抓获并入狱 3.5 年后，他偿还了其中的一部分 1,850 美元。

新加坡——一名汽车租赁公司老板因一项计划而被判入狱，该计划是将从其他公司租赁的车辆转租给客户。

不久，云秋诱使他们向他支付款项，让他们以为是在履行租金协议。实际上，他把这些钱用于支付业务成本和自己的个人开支。

9月15日，这名50岁的男子承认犯有五项欺诈罪和一项伪造罪，被判处三年六个月监禁。

另有 35 项欺诈指控被纳入量刑考虑范围。

当他无法按时向其他公司付款时，他的生意就陷入了困境，那些预付货款或按月付款的Soon的客户，他们的汽车也被收回了。

Soon总共从租车人那里骗取了超过295,400美元，这些租车人误以为自己是从他那里租的车。但当车辆被收回时，他们总共损失了176,273.50美元。

法庭获悉，Soon 的生意起初盈利颇丰，尽管他经营的是汽车租赁业务，但他实际上并没有自己的汽车。

他在 2023 年于在线市场 Carousell 上创业时就萌生了这个计划。

在客户表明他们想要租用的汽车品牌和型号，并商定价格后，Soon 会与其他汽车租赁公司的库存进行核对。

然后他会要求客户一次性付款或支付押金，并用这些钱按周或按月支付给其他汽车租赁公司。

该商业模式最初实现了盈利。

但 Soon 在 2023 年 3 月遇到了麻烦，因为他扩大了业务，租了更多汽车用于转租，但却无法支付租金。

那时，他还将客户支付给他的钱用于支付个人开支。

他这样做是知道，如果他拖欠其他汽车租赁公司的款项，他转租给自己客户的车辆将被收回。

但 Soon 坚持己见，有时甚至预收整个租赁期的租金。

到2025年，他开始在Carousell网站上用不同的公司名称宣传自己的生意，以延长骗局的持续时间。他还刻意回避那些发现自己被骗的顾客。

伪造罪指控与 2024 年发生的一起事件有关，当时他结识了 Zupreme Services 的老板，他已经从这家汽车租赁公司租用了一段时间的车辆。

Zupreme 同意让 Soon 转租其车辆，Soon 的客户签署了包含该公司详细信息的合同。

该合同原本只适用于 Zupreme 拥有的汽车，但在 2024 年 8 月，Soon 利用该合同误导客户租用了另一家公司的汽车。

由于合同上印有 Zupreme 的详细信息，客户向 Soon 支付了 13,400 美元，租期为 18 个月。

他后来向客户支付了 1850 美元的赔偿金。