According to The Straits Times, a Malaysian man who duped 35 women into sending him photos and videos of their private parts by pretending to be a female gynaecologist from a private hospital has been jailed.
Ooi Chuen Wei was sentenced to 40 months’ jail after pleading guilty to 6 charges of personation. 15 similar charges were also taken into consideration.
There was no other information given about the 37-year-old’s occupation or personal life.
Between 2018 and 2021, his 35 victims sent a total of 919 photos and videos to him. He tried to cheat another 7 victims but was unsuccessful.
How he did it
The court heard that back in late 2016, Ooi had created a Facebook profile styling himself as “Dr Janice Lee Yan Hooi” from “Gleneagles Medical Singapore” and even used a random photograph of a Malaysian woman as his profile picture.
To make his account and himself seem more legitimate, Ooi added both male and female Facebook friends and created an Instagram and LinkedIn profile using the same name.
He then went on to identify female victims to target, sending them a message introducing himself as Dr Lee and offered to share a medical plan for breast and sexual health with monthly consultations.
According to Ooi he told the victims that the medical plan was approved by “Gleneagles Medical Centre”.
He then sent his victims step-by-step instructions on how to conduct a massage of their breasts and genital area and asked them to send him videos of them doing so.
Ooi told them that the videos would enable him to diagnose any health issues, so he could provide the women with a treatment plan.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) R. Arvindren said, “This was essentially a telemedicine ruse by the accused. The accused downloaded and saved the videos and pictures after he received them… The victims believed the accused’s elaborate lies.”
Arvindren added that Ooi would avoid speaking to the victims in order not to blow his cover as a female gynaecologist.
How he got caught
His offences came to light after one of his victims became suspicious in 2021. She went on to conduct her own research and realised that there was nobody by the name of Dr Janice Lee Yan Hooi working at Gleneagles.
She then made a police report that led to Ooi’s arrest on November 11, 2021.
During investigations, Ooi admitted that he knew the victims would feel alarmed and humiliated if they found out he was not a female doctor.
Although it must be traumatising for the victims, we hope that they can feel slightly relieved that justice has been served.
