Local running club F1 Runners Founder, Lexxus Tan Swee Tiong, (46 years old), has been arrested by the Police and investigated for cheating.
He was alleged to have collected over S$100,400 from over 80 members from his running club F1 runners for overseas marathon packages, but have cancelled them at the last minute without refund.
More than 80 runners have each paid around S$1,300 to Mr Tan for the Gold Coast Marathon, the price of which was supposed to cover the race, flights, accommodation, and other travel expenses. However, last Friday they were notified by Mr Tan in an email that the trip has been cancelled.
Earlier this week, GCM’s organisers had offered stranded participants the option to defer their registration until next year, and help in sourcing for flights and accommodation for those who chose to go ahead with the trip this year.
The police spokesperson confirmed that Mr Tan has been arrested on 28 June 2018 and investigations are ongoing. It was believed that more than 10 runners have made a report against Mr Tan.
The whole incident was exposed by a viral blog post posted on Tuesday (June 5) by ex-member Cindy Ong, 35, who alleged that a desperate Mr Tan had sought financial help from her husband Derrick Teng in November last year.
Mr Tan has borrowed an amount of S$21,700 from more than 16 of his past and present members of his running club F1 Runners. The members have also reported him to the Police for duping them into lending him money and not returning them back.
Several runners had complained to the Singapore Tourism Board that Mr Tan was also acting as a travel agent without a license.
Last month, Travel agency Scenic Travel had also brought a civil suit against Mr Tan for breaching a contract involving overseas races.
Featured Photo Credit: Facebook / F1 Runners’ Team
