Former Mobile Air owner Jover Chew jailed 33 months, fined $2,000

Former Mobile Air owner Jover Chew jailed 33 months, fined $2,000

SINGAPORE - Jover Chew, the former boss of the now-defunct Mobile Air electronics shop, was on Monday sentenced to 33 months jail and fined $2,000 for cheating his customers.

Chew had faced 26 charges of cheating, one charge of criminal intimidation and one charge of insulting behaviour, and had pleaded guilty to 12 of the charges.

According to previous reports, prosecutors had called for him to be given a three-year jail sentence.

Mobile Air, an electronics shop that was located in Sim Lim Square, first gained notoriety in November last year when reports emerged that it had paid a customer a refund of $1,010 in coins.

Shortly after that, another incident involving Chew and the shop surfaced when a Vietnamese tourist, Mr Pham Van Thoai, was filmed begging and crying after he had been overcharged.

The incident triggered an outpouring of sympathy for the Vietnamese man online, and a subsequent crowd-funding effort for him to cover his losses raised over $14,000.

Four of Chew's former employees are also serving jail terms of between four and 14 months.

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