An accounts department employee used an erasable ink pen to fill out cheques, had her boss sign them, then changed the payee names to defraud her company of nearly $50,000.
This sophisticated scheme went undetected for months before an audit revealed the financial discrepancies.
The defendant, Lai Ya Jie (name transliterated from Mandarin), 42, faced seven charges in court.
On Tuesday (8 Apr 2025), she pleaded guilty to two counts of document forgery and one count of criminal breach of trust.
The remaining charges were taken into consideration during sentencing, resulting in an 18-month jail term.
The Deception Method
According to case details, the defendant needed money to bring her children from Bali to Singapore.
Having borrowed money from friends and her husband, she devised a plan to “steal money” using company cheques.
Between 2021 and May 2022, Lai worked in a company’s finance department. Her responsibilities included preparing payment vouchers and corresponding cheques for the company’s two directors to sign before disbursing payments.
This position gave her direct access to the company’s financial instruments and payment systems.
Lai used an erasable ink pen to write the names of legitimate payees and amounts on cheques, then obtained the directors’ signatures.
However, instead of depositing these cheques, she erased the payee names and replaced them with her own name, her husband’s name, or a friend’s name between January and February 2022.
Misappropriated Funds and Discovery
The defendant altered five cheques in this manner, diverting nearly $50,000 from the company.
She used these funds for personal expenses, food, flight tickets, and expenses related to her children. The misappropriated money was completely redirected to personal use rather than company operations.
Lai lied to her husband and friend, claiming the money represented reimbursements from the company for items she had purchased on its behalf.
The company finally discovered her actions during their annual audit.
Financial discrepancies appeared when auditors compared payment records with actual transactions.
The company directors filed a police report on 5 May 2023, leading to a formal investigation that gathered evidence of the systematic fraud.
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