Former real estate agents representative Kian Meng Ong, also known as Dennis Ong, has been sentenced to a four-month jail term, wholly suspended for eighteen months, and fined $2500 for the misappropriation of $52,000 in trust account money.
Mr Ong pleaded guilty in Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court to four counts of fraudulently converting moneys received by his employer.
Mr Ong, who at the time managed a portfolio of 150 rental properties at Ray White Oakleigh, admitted that he paid himself a total of $52,024.90 in trust account money between September 2012 and February 2013.
He committed the offences by changing the account details of the payee on the agency's computer system. Instead of rent money being paid from the agency’s trust account to a landlord, it was transferred to Mr Ong’s private bank account on four occasions.
After the landlord complained to the estate agent about not receiving rent money in February 2013, Mr Ong confessed to his employer that he had changed the computer system to pay the money into his own account. Ray White Oakleigh then proactively engaged an auditor and Consumer Affairs Victoria was notified about Mr Ong’s conduct.
Mr Ong admitted the fraud to Consumer Affairs Victoria inspectors and arranged to repay the stolen trust account money.
Mr Ong was sentenced to a four-month jail term, wholly suspended for 18 months, and was fined $2500 and ordered to pay costs of $114.