229 Sets of Grocery Vouchers Were Stolen; Minister Explained Why They’re Sent Via Mail

By
Ashley Seek
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I know it goes without saying, but please don’t steal things.

It’s one of the reasons why you could vouch for October being one pretty annoying month.

Because for some reason, so many people were going around stealing grocery vouchers from letterboxes.

Image: Singapore Police Force

Then, of course, people will start to think: why would you mail them when others can steal it?

Digital Literacy Not High Among Older People

The answer lies with Second Minister for Finance Indranee Rajah.

According to her, many concerns were considered when considering mailing the vouchers out.

This included public health constraints due to the virus pandemic, convenience and security.

While digital vouchers sounded feasible, they decided against it should recipients not have a smartphone or data plan.

Ms Indranee also mentioned that the majority of recipients were above 55 years old.

However, if digital literacy improves among the older folks, they might consider a switch to digital vouchers.

For those who don’t know, these vouchers are for Singaporeans aged 21 and above living in 1 or 2-room HDB flats. They also can’t have more than 1 property under their name.

Those eligible would’ve either received it in October or will be part of another batch in December.

Community Centres Inconvenient

Another method considered was self-collection at respective community centres.

However, they considered that the elderly might find it inconvenient. This would be made worse if they had movement issues.

And if the collection of TraceTogether tokens is any indication, you’d have one more problem.

Overcrowding of the community centres.

Ms Indranee said that after considering the points above, they decided mailing was the best option.

With that being said, especially with multiple news reports of stealing, what is the voucher steal count right now?

Extremely Small Percentage

Going by percentages, it’s actually not much at all.

On 2 November, Ms Indranee said that only 0.2% of the vouchers mailed out were reported to have been stolen as of 28 October.

This accounts for 229 voucher sets out of the 150,000 mailed out.

So far, the police have made 55 arrests and investigations for other cases are still going.

The latest arrest was of a 46-year-old man who was allegedly stealing from letterboxes in Marine Terrace.

According to Facebook post by the Singapore Police Force, those found guilty can be jailed for three years, fined or both.

You Can Get Replacement Vouchers

While we hope the numbers don’t increase, there is something you can do if your voucher has been stolen.

And for those waiting for their vouchers in December, you can take note, too.

You can make a  police report and contact the Grocery Voucher hotline at 1800-2222-888. They can be requested to be voided and replaced.

Voided vouchers can’t be used so if you’re a slow thief, too bad.

And they’ll also have the police on their tail.

Ms Indranee also says that each voucher has special features to check and identify intended recipients.

The vouchers can even be traced to specific locations and times of transaction.

So despite the thefts last month, recipients are generally in good hands.

Watch this for a complete summary of what REALLY happened to Qoo10, and why it's like a K-drama:

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Ashley Seek
[email protected]