Carousell Car Rental Scam Leads to Three-and-a-Half-Year Jail Sentence in Singapore
On September 15, a 50-year-old car rental business owner was sentenced to three years and six months behind bars in Singapore after pleading guilty to five cheating charges and one forgery indictment, leaving victims across the Carousell marketplace facing more than $176,000 in direct losses.
The Mechanics of a Subletting Scheme
Soon Yunn Chiuan operated a car rental business that initially turned a profit despite a glaring operational vulnerability: he owned zero vehicles of his own. Launching his enterprise on the online marketplace Carousell in 2023, Soon orchestrated a high-risk operational model. When customers specified their desired car make and model and agreed on a price, Soon sourced the vehicles from other legitimate car rental companies.
He extracted lump-sum payments or upfront deposits from his hirers, funneling that cash into weekly or monthly payments for the actual vehicle owners. The business model unraveled in March 2023 when Soon expanded his fleet, took on more rental contracts, and quickly fell behind on payments to the primary leasing firms.
Escalating Fraud and Repossessions
As debt mounted, Soon began diverting client funds toward personal expenses. He maintained the charade while fully aware that missing payments to primary car rental firms would result in the immediate repossession of vehicles currently sublet to unsuspecting consumers. To keep the cash flowing, Soon occasionally demanded full upfront payments covering entire long-term rental periods.
By 2025, the scheme had grown more elaborate. Soon advertised under various company names on Carousell to prolong his operations, actively dodging clients who discovered they had been defrauded. In all, Soon collected more than $295,400 from hirers. When primary firms eventually stepped in to repossess their fleets, customers who had paid upfront or maintained regular monthly schedules suffered a cumulative loss of $176,273.50.
The Forgery Indictment and Final Judgment
Beyond the widespread financial deception, Soon’s criminal charges included a specific act of forgery executed in 2024. Having built a business relationship with Zupreme Services—a car rental firm that permitted him to sublet its vehicles using contracts bearing the company’s official details—Soon exploited the paperwork. In August 2024, he used a Zupreme contract to fraudulently secure an 18-month rental agreement for a car owned entirely by a different firm.
Through this forged use of Zupreme’s credentials, Soon induced a client into handing over $13,400. Judicial records note that Soon has since made $1,850 in financial restitution to this specific client. Alongside the five primary cheating charges and the forgery indictment, the court took another 35 cheating charges into consideration during sentencing.
