A former employee of CarTimes Group allegedly collected $67,000 and an old car that was traded in for a new Toyota but has now gone missing.
The police as well as the car dealership have launched their own investigations into this matter. Private hire driver Ng Poh Leng said in a Facebook post on Sunday that she went on holiday for 6 days after she traded in her old Honda Shuttle worth about $105,000, expecting to get her new ride on her return on May 29th.
During those 6 days all Ms Ng’s calls to salesman Chan Chee Ken went unanswered, and she did not get her new car as planned on May 30th. She rushed down to the CarTimes office in Ubi Avenue and discovered to her horror that the company did not receive the money she put down for her new Toyota Yaris Cross. She made a police report on 1st June.
Ms Ng said that she first met Mr. Chan on April 25th at Automobile Megamart when she was looking to purchase a new automobile. Two days later, Ms Ng was contacted by Mr. Chan to inquire if she was keen on looking at a Toyota Noah and she said yes. She then sent $10,000 to Mr Chan using a QR code provided by him.
Ms Ng informed Mr. Chan on 28th April that she wanted to purchase a Toyota Yaris Cross sports utility vehicle instead, and transferred $50,000 to a UOB bank account he provided, and was subsequently informed that she would be able to collect the new car by 22nd May. On 18th May Ms Ng traded in her Honda Shuttle for $ 105,000 as part of the payment for the new automobile and paid the remaining $7,000 by once again scanning a QR code Mr Chan provided.
Ms NG wrote that he also helped her to do the transfer of ownership of her trade-in vehicle to CarTimes for which she was very grateful as she was not IT savvy, but ended up regretting it later on.
On the day she was due to collect her car, she was informed that it was not ready as a result of delays at port, and the wait to undergo an inspection by the Land Transport Authority. Although she was not happy, Ms Ng agreed to exchange the cars after she returned on May 30th from her 6-day trip. She went to the CarTimes office since Mr. Chan did not respond to any of her calls while she was on her trip. There she was informed by the Sales Manager that the vehicle was ready for collection, but that no payments had been received. The ownership of her Honda Shuttle had not been transferred to CarTimes.
Speaking to Shin Min Daily News, Ms Ng said that the new automobile she was supposed to receive had been impounded. She said that although the car dealership had lent her a vehicle for temporary use, it had not been on the road for over 1 year, and could not be used as a private hire car. She added that she received $2,400 from CarTimes to rent a car from another company. The CarTimes Group posted a statement on Facebook on Sunday stating that Mr. Chan was believed to have engaged in fraudulent activities that were not condoned or authorized by them.
These included approaching clients and offering unauthorized trade-in services, requesting customers to send payments to personal accounts, misrepresenting himself as acting as being on behalf of the company, and misappropriating funds.
The company added that it was assisting one client try to recover her money with the assistance of its insurer, and is helping two customers to get a temporary resolution until investigations are finished.
In response to queries, CarTimes stated they had last had contact with Mr. Chan on May 31st. He had worked at the dealership from August 2022 until May 2023.
The firm’s internal investigation discovered that Mr. Chan requested Ms Ng to transfer the money to his personal bank account, and CarTimes said the company was not involved in the trade-in transaction. They said in a statement that they were reaching out to the affected clients to assist in the investigations in uncovering the full extent of Ken’s activities.
