Ong, who described himself as being 1.88m tall on his Instagram page, was arrested in his hotel room in Alicante on April 16.
Another acquaintance of Ong, who also frequented the same gym, said the suspect had previously told him that he was working in the financial industry.
He recalled Ong being a bit of an “awkward” person who sported expensive sneakers.
“I would say he cared a lot about what he was wearing,” added the man, who is in his 20s.
A business colleague of Ong said they got to know each other about 15 years ago when he started providing marketing services to the suspect, including for an online IT store that was incorporated in 2013.
A search of business records showed the store is no longer in operation.
The man, who is in his 30s, said: “Generally, he was a nice person to work with, so I was quite shocked when I read the news.
“We stopped talking just before the pandemic, but I remember him as always being prompt with payments.
“The different projects I worked with him usually cost about $2,000 or so, depending on the specifics, but he was never a customer that I needed to badger for payments.
“He would check the work and if it was all good, he would pay up.”
