Woman says she lost $67k after car salesman goes missing, dealership lodges police report over ex-employee

A woman paid $67,000 for a new car after trading in her old one, only to find out the money had allegedly gone into the salesman's own pockets instead of his company's. 

In a Facebook post on Sunday (June 11), private hire driver Ng Poh Leng wrote that she wanted to trade in her car for a new one. 

On April 25, she made several online enquiries about a minivan — Toyota Voxy — and went to Automobile Megamart at Ubi to check it out. 

There, she met CarTimes Automobile salesman Chan Kee Ken, who also goes by the name Ken Chan. 

As the car model she wanted was not available, Ng left. 

Two days later, Chan contacted her via WhatsApp and asked if she wanted to consider getting a similar model — Toyota Noah. 

"I was reluctant at first because it was not the car I wanted initially but I eventually agreed to it," she wrote, adding that she decided to go ahead and check out the car. 

Ng placed a $10,000 deposit by scanning a QR code Chan provided.

After thinking about the purchase, she changed her mind and told Chan on April 28 that she wanted to get a Toyota Yaris Cross instead.

So the pair met, voided the previous agreement and signed a new one. Ng also transferred $50,000 to a UOB bank account number provided by Chan.

About two days later, the salesman told her the new car would be ready for collection before May 22 and she could swap her old car for the new one on the day itself. 

On May 18, Chan quoted Ng $105,000 as the trade-in value of her car, a Honda Shuttle. 

Ng said she signed the agreement and made the balance payment of $7,000 via another QR code provided by Chan. 

"He also assisted me to do the transfer of ownership of my trade-in vehicle to CarTimes which I was very grateful for as I am not IT savvy, but [I] ended up regretting [this] later on," recounted Ng. 

We did not receive payment: CarTimes

On May 22, the day that the car trade-in was supposed to happen, things went south.

According to Ng, Chan called her saying that the new car was not ready for collection as it was pending inspection by the Land Transport Authority and there were port delays. 

"I was upset, but he gave me his word that by the 25th, the car will be ready for collection with PHV decal that he agreed to get done for me," she said.

As Ng was not in Singapore from May 24 to 29, she requested to do the exchange of vehicles on May 30 at CarTimes' Ubi branch. 

While she was overseas, Ng contacted Chan for updates but was unable to reach him. And when she called his office hotline, she was told that he was on medical leave for a week. 

Feeling uneasy, Ng later visited CarTimes' office and a sales manager informed her that the car was ready for collection. 

Although she had transferred a total of $67,000 to Chan by then, the company told her that they did not receive any payment.

"I was baffled. All payment that needed to be made [had] been paid so what could he possibly mean?" Ng asked as she shared a photo of the agreement that she had signed with Chan.

After asking Ng for proof of payment, the sales manager told her the company did not receive any of the money. The ownership of her old car was also not transferred to them. 

In fact, the company said it was not even aware of the trade-in as Chan had allegedly altered the agreement form.

Ng then made a police report. 

On June 1, Ng met with CarTimes' managing director Eddie Loo.

"I thought that this time, I could get some updates to the situation or maybe some sincere heartfelt apologies to ease my heavy heart but nothing came close," she wrote. 

However, Ng said Loo pointed out the clause in the sales agreement indicating that “all payment above $3,000 must be in cheque/CO made payable to Car Times Automobile Pte Ltd”. 

"To make matters worse, he also added on saying that they are victims themselves and the whole thing ended with me being told to just wait for police investigations to be done for both my money," Ng said, adding that she made a second police report that day.

Former employee misappropriated funds: CarTimes

In a Facebook post on June 11, CarTimes said it has lodged a police report and initiated an internal investigation regarding the incident.

CarTimes said that in May, it discovered that Chan, who is no longer an employee, had "allegedly engaged in fraudulent activities that violated [the] company’s principles". 

"We are deeply troubled by this situation and want to make it clear that CarTimes did not authorise or condone any of his alleged actions".

Besides approaching customers and offering unauthorised trade-in services, Chan had also asked customers to transfer payments due to the company into personal accounts.

These funds were subsequently misappropriated. 

Chan also misrepresented his actions as being on behalf of the company, CarTimes added.

The company is currently seeking legal advice from its solicitor to address the matter appropriately. 

"We are fully cooperating with the authorities to facilitate the investigation process," it said. In the meantime, CarTimes is assisting Ng in recovering her funds with the support of its panel insurer.

The company is also actively working with two identified affected customers to provide temporary resolution while the investigation is ongoing.

CarTimes also reminded customers to make sure that any payments pertaining to their car purchase or trade-in transfer should exclusively be made to Car Times Automobile Pte Ltd, using the UEN No. 200103507Z.

"Please do not make any PayNow transfers to personal mobile numbers or transfer your trade-in vehicle to any other company or individuals, even if instructed to do so by our sales employees," they added. 

"We deeply value your trust in our company and assure you that we are taking this matter very seriously. Our priority is to resolve the situation swiftly, protect your interests, and prevent any recurrence of such incidents in the future."

AsiaOne has reached out to the police, CarTimes and Ng for more details. 

ALSO READ: Car dealer allegedly goes missing for 4 months as man's car faces issues 2 weeks after collection

melissateo@asiaone.com

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