Crime | Man behind fake casino chip scam jailed

The mastermind behind Singapore’s counterfeit chip scam was jailed on Wednesday, after being convicted of 13 counts of engaging in a conspiracy to exchange fake chips for cash at the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) casino.

With the assistance of Malaysian police, along with Macau’s Judiciary Police, Toh Hock Thiam was arrested in Malaysia on December 31, 2015.

Toh created SGD1,000 worth of fake chips that, according to Singapore’s Casino Regulatory Authority, looked authentic, and were the “best quality” that the bureau had examined.

The perpetrator had already exchanged 1,291 counterfeit chips, before a cashier recognized a slight discoloration in one of them, a week after.

MBS suffered a loss of almost SGD1.3 million.

Toh, 55, underwent a 14-day trial and was convicted of 13 counts of engaging in a plot that is aimed at exchanging fake chips for cash. The court heard 161 similar charges involving the chips and one count of an immigration offence was also taken into consideration during sentencing,  the Straits Times reported.

Prosecutor Asoka Markandu said Toh was directly responsible for 420 counterfeit chips, but the court heard he could be indirectly held accountable for the total losses MBS sustained.

“As the counterfeit cash chips were all the same, an inference can be drawn that Toh was either involved in the manufacture and distribution of all the counterfeit cash chips, or he had liaised with an unknown syndicate member who had manufactured and delivered the counterfeit cash chips to him and others involved in the scam,” said the prosecutor.

The MBS casino also confirmed that the chips did not possess all the security features found in a genuine ones. However, the features the fake chips did not replicate are not visible to the naked eye and can only be detected with special equipment at the cashier’s cage.

Further, Toh was also responsible for recruiting two accomplices who helped him distribute the chips, collect money and recruit runners.