SINGAPORE – The sale of seller-made blind trading card packs might be an offence if they involve cheating or illegal gambling.   And the police will investigate if reports are lodged. Known as “Oripas” (original packs), these packs are not official products.   Responding to queries from The Straits Times, a spokesman for the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that depending on the facts of the case, sellers of Oripas may be committing cheating or illegal gambling offences. Oripas are made by third parties and sold as a form of lottery, marketed as a low-cost chance at high-value cards. Sellers repack trading cards of varying values into blind packs sold at a premium, with claims of high-value chances that are difficult to verify.   Ultimately, buyers often end up with cards worth far less than what they paid for.   ST previously reported about the rampant proliferation of Oripas in the trading card community here.   Prices of such packs range from a few dollars to several hundreds each, often promising buyers a shot at rare, valuable trading cards allegedly worth thousands.   Under the Gambling Control Act, those who conduct unapproved games of chance and lotteries can be jailed for up to seven years and fined up to $500,000 for a first offence, and up to 10 years’ jail and a $700,000 fine for a repeat offence. Those who induce individuals under the age of 18 to gamble can be jailed for up to six years and fined up to $300,000. Several hobbyists had contacted ST after it was reported that trading card packs will be regulated to manage gambling risks involving blind boxes, with details expected around mid-2026     Many said Oripas should be banned due to the gambling and scam risks they pose.

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SINGAPORE: A former United Overseas Bank (UOB) employee was convicted on Tuesday (Oct 14) of multiple charges over disclosing the information of more than 1,000 customers to a scammer. Cao Wenqing, a 30-year-old Singapore permanent resident and Chinese national, was convicted of 14 charges under the Computer Misuse Act and 13 charges under the Banking Act. She had contested the charges, saying she had been deceived by people claiming to be from the Shanghai police. However, District Judge James Elisha Lee on Tuesday said Cao had tertiary education qualifications and was given training that made her fully aware of the highly confidential and sensitive nature of customer information, as well as the restrictions on their disclosure. She also knew it was against the bank's policy for her to extract customer information. Judge Lee said it was "unreasonable" in his view for Cao not to have taken any steps to verify the identities of the two people who contacted her.  She could have easily done this by calling the Shanghai police herself, which she subsequently did, after reading an article on a similar scam, said the judge. According to the prosecution's case, Cao was a junior officer working in the mortgage department and was permitted to access the customer database only for her work. This was for selling mortgages to new customers and servicing existing customers with mortgages. In March 2021, Cao was contacted by a "Xiang Ying Dong" and a "Captain Lu", who claimed to be police officers from China. She later agreed to act as a person assisting the police on a voluntary basis for Lu. Lu asked her to search for customers on the database, focusing on those who were Chinese nationals, and provide him their details. Cao used her work-issued laptop to access the database and searched for common Chinese surnames before going into each profile to see if they were Chinese nationals. If they were, she would copy their names, identification numbers, bank balances and phone numbers into an Excel spreadsheet. After compiling the information of 50 to 100 customers, she would take photos of the spreadsheet and send them to Lu via WhatsApp before deleting the photos. Cao also carried out searches on specific customers when Lu asked her to, and sent screenshots of customer profiles from the database to Lu. Cao reported the matter to the Singapore Police Force on Apr 22, 2021 after she realised she was being scammed. The prosecutor said Cao complied with Lu's requests because she was worried about purported investigations against her and felt pressure to cooperate with the Chinese police, whom she regarded as powerful. She also wanted to avoid returning to China and potentially losing her job. "She knew that what she was doing in Singapore was contrary to the bank's policies and illegal under Singapore law, but went ahead anyway," said Deputy Public Prosecutor Ryan Lim. Cao is defended by Mr Kalidass Murugaiyan. She will return to court for mitigation and sentencing in December. Source: CNA/ll(zl)

SCDF rescues stall owner whose hand was trapped in sugarcane press at Alexandra Village Food Centre A juice stall owner at Alexandra Village Food Centre was taken to hospital after his right hand became trapped in a sugarcane press machine while he was working on Monday evening (9 March). The man was reportedly stuck for about two hours before Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) rescuers and medical personnel from the National University Hospital (NUH) helped free his hand and conveyed him to hospital.   Hand trapped in machine for about two hours According to Lianhe Zaobao, the incident occurred at around 8.45pm. The stall owner was believed to have been preparing a sugarcane drink when his right hand was accidentally caught in the press machine.   Source: BGStock72 on Canva, for illustration purposes only When reporters from the Chinese daily arrived at about 10.15pm, rescue efforts were still ongoing. More than a dozen SCDF personnel had gathered around the juice stall and were using various tools to extricate the man’s hand. At least three SCDF vehicles and a police car were parked nearby, including a Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (DART) vehicle.   Source: Singapore Civil Defence Force on Facebook, for illustration purposes only The rescue operation concluded at about 10.45pm. An elderly man with greying hair, wearing a floral shirt, was assisted by medical staff and placed on a stretcher before being taken to hospital. Observers noted that his right ring finger and little finger were bandaged, and he appeared weak and in visible pain.   Family members distraught at scene Four relatives of the stall owner were present during the rescue and sat on chairs in front of the stall while operations were underway. A woman believed to be the man’s wife and a younger man appeared visibly distressed, occasionally covering their eyes and wiping away tears. A bak kut teh stall owner at the hawker centre, who declined to be named, told Lianhe Zaobao that the injured stall owner is in his 60s and has operated the stall at Alexandra Village for more than 10 years.   Source: @mdm_chiu on Instagram, for illustration purposes only She said the food centre was already relatively quiet when the incident occurred, with only two or three customers queuing at the juice stall. The stallholder added that she did not hear any cries for help and only realised something had happened when police and SCDF officers arrived at the scene. Queenstown Member of Parliament (MP) Eric Chua also arrived at about 11pm to offer support to the injured man’s family. He stayed for around 15 minutes before leaving.   DART specialists and NUH medical team assisted in rescue In response to MS News’ queries, SCDF said it received a call for assistance at 120 Bukit Merah Lane 1 at about 9pm on 9 March. Firefighters and rescue specialists from DART worked together with an SCDF paramedic to free the man’s right hand from the sugarcane machine. The paramedic administered pain relief and monitored the man’s vital signs throughout the rescue operation. An NUH emergency medical team was also deployed to the scene to provide medical support. After his hand was successfully released, the man was conveyed to NUH for further treatment.

On the morning of Mar. 8 at around 10am, a resident at Block 446B Jalan Kayu found the remains of a horse sculpture on the ground adjacent to a recycling bin. It was later discovered that the destroyed sculpture belonged to the nearby Leong Nam Temple, and it broke after three mischievous teenagers climbed atop the sculpture during the wee hours to horse around. Temple manager assumed sculpture had been stowed away   According to Shin Min Daily News, the horse's head ended up in the recycling bin, while the bottom half of the sculpture was placed on the ground. The manager of the Buddhist temple, located at 70 Sengkang West Avenue, only realised that the horse sculpture had been disposed of when reporters visited to ask about it. Temple manager Chen Yulian (transliteration) said she assumed her colleagues had stowed the sculpture away when she noticed it was missing in the morning. Chen also shared that the temple was planning to reuse the sculpture around September this year.   Mischievous teens   After reviewing closed-circuit television footage, it was discovered that the sculpture broke after three mischievous teens sat on it.   The teens were seen entering the temple premises at around 2am on Mar. 7. One of the teens, clad in a black T-shirt, first climbed onto the sculpture. The two remaining teens followed suit. As the teens continued rocking back and forth on the horse, the sculpture, made of styrofoam, eventually gave way under their weight. They were seen attempting to mend the sculpture, but to no avail. The entire episode of mischief lasted about a minute and a half, Shin Min wrote. Chen commented that the temple painstakingly cares for its sculptures, including those from past years. The temple has since lodged a police report.   Volunteers heartbroken   A 65-year-old temple volunteer, Xu (transliteration), told Shin Min that the horse sculpture was meant to be the temple's mascot in the Year of the Horse. With the sculpture now destroyed, many volunteers were heartbroken, Xu said. Another 64-year-old volunteer pointed out that the sculpture was put together with great effort and attention to detail. He urged parents to properly counsel their children and remind them not to carry out such acts of mischief.