S’pore teen, 17, fakes PayNow screenshots to ‘buy’ jewellery, phones & hostess garlands, gets reformative training

[The_King]

A 17-year-old teenager fooled various businesses in Singapore, cheating them of more than S$15,000 by renaming his PayNow account to match theirs, and showing them screenshots of the "payments".

The dishonest screenshots were used to "pay" for items like Bvlgari jewellery, mobile phones, a puppy, and garlands for bar hostesses.

 

At least four separate police reports were made against the teen, who is now 19 and cannot be named under the Children and Young Persons Act (CYPA).

He was arrested in June 2022, after a bar in Lavender had a dispute with him over unpaid bills and called the police.

 

Renamed personal account to fake PayNow transfers

 

One place where the teen used the dishonest PayNow screenshots was at the Bvlgari store in Ion Orchard.

Court documents indicated that on Apr. 10, 2022, he picked out a leather wallet and a pink gold ring at the store, which cost S$3,410 in total.

The teen then showed the cashier four PayNow screenshots of transfers supposedly made to Bvlgari's UEN account, before leaving the store with the goods.

Unbeknownst to the staff there, he had changed the name of his personal PayNow account to match that of the company — essentially paying himself.

 

Caught after mistake noticed in company's name

 

The teen returned to the outlet the next day and tried the same tactic to purchase a S$5,000 necklace.

This time, however, a Bvlgari staff noticed a minor mistake in the company's name reflected in the PayNow screenshots. It was missing an "s".

While the staff were checking to verify if the payments were successful, the teen left the store without the necklace as he was nervous.

Only one PayNow transfer he had made to the store had been genuine.

Once the other payments were found to be unsuccessful, the staff tried to contact the teen, but to no avail.

On Apr. 28, 2022, a Bvlgari sales manager lodged a police report against him for the S$2,812 owed to the store.

The teen's mother made full restitution the next day.

However, the teen continued to use similar tactics to fool businesses from May 28, 2022 to Jun. 7, 2022.

He cheated a mobile phone business of an iPhone 13 mini and other accessories worth a total of S$963, again using screenshots of PayNow transfers.

He also attempted to cheat a pet shop by trying to show that he had made a S$3,250 deposit for a puppy, though the puppy was not handed over to the accused.

 

Hired locksmiths to steal S$5,610 from uncle's safe

 

Previously, the teen had also stolen S$5,610 from his uncle's safe to pay off his debts from soccer betting.

On Nov. 24, 2021, he hired locksmiths to break into his uncle's safe when the latter was not at home.

He then took valuables amounting to S$5,610, which he used to pay for an iPhone 11, a portable charger, and lunch at a seafood restaurant.

The teen admitted to the theft after being confronted by his mother and uncle, and gave a statement to the police the same night.

 

Arrested in Jun. 2022

 

The teen was eventually brought in for investigations on Jun. 7, 2022.

A staff member at Black Horse Lounge, a bar in Lavender, called the police as they had a dispute with the teen over outstanding bills.

He had purchased S$9,476 worth of alcohol and garlands for bar hostesses using dishonest PayNow receipts.

The police arrested him at the scene that night.

 

Sentenced to 12 months at RTC

 

The teen was subsequently charged with deception, theft, and false representation of payment to obtain services.

He was also charged for agreeing to hand over his Singpass details in exchange for "fast cash". While he was not eventually paid the promised S$1,000, his Singpass login details were used to open a UOB Bank Account in his name. The bank account was eventually used for scams.

He pleaded guilty to six charges, with another seven taken into consideration for sentencing.

The prosecution pointed out that the accused first gave a statement to the police in November 2021, but "has since gone on to re-offend multiple times with increasing quantum of sums involved despite knowing that there were ongoing investigations".

"The accused has demonstrated no regard for the law," the prosecution added.

On Apr. 23, he was sentenced to 12 months of reformative training, Shin Min Daily News (Shin Min) reported.

 

Mother had 'no confidence to supervise him'

 

Shin Min also reported that the probation monitoring report stated that the teen's mother did not have the confidence to supervise him.

As such, the report recommended that the teen be admitted to the Reformative Training Centre (RTC).

In court, the teen had asked the judge if the sentence could be postponed as he "still had things to settle" before going into RTC.

The judge agreed to his request and allowed him to serve his sentence from May 24.

[The_King]

that why cash is king, confirm many ppl dont have the chemical and mean to counterfeit notes