News

Man Jailed for Exploiting HPB Programme With 1,200 Fake HealthHub Accounts

2021-09-29 , 12:23 pm

“Just be yourself!” is a saying that you’ve probably heard a million times over from your family, friends, or just people who post cute aesthetic graphics on Instagram.

Sadly, that can sometimes prove hard to do – we’re in a pandemic, and when times get tough, the people get tougher, too.

And that’s why we’re also seeing more desperate people who have to resort to illegal means to get more than one piece of the pie they’re only supposed to have.

Stealing physical goods have become a thing of the past now, it seems, for there’s a new hot crime in the scene: stealing others’ identities.

Man Created 1,200 Fake Accounts On HealthHub

Handling your own accounts can already prove to be a challenge, but this man managed to use a whopping 1,200 fake accounts to get what he needed.

28-year-old Ong Lee Boon, upon realising that he could earn benefits in the form of NTUC vouchers and TransitLink credits, decided to not just stop at having one account.

The Health Promotion Board (HPB) once offered incentives to loyal users of their HealthHub program, who could complete activities like quizzes in order to earn HealthPoints.

HealthPoints could then be exchanged to earn TransitLink credits, which could also be used to redeem NTUC FairPrice supermarket vouchers.

Creating an account was as simple as providing one’s FIN or NRIC number, mobile number, and email address – which aimed to prevent people from creating more than one account to earn more credits.

Which obviously wasn’t good enough for someone like Ong, who found a way around it.

At the beginning of 2018, Ong, who had just moved to Singapore from Malaysia, created an account on HealthHub using his FIN and phone number for registration purposes.

He was happy to find out that the points he earned could be transferred to his EZ-Link card as part of his travel expenses.

When Ong obtained his permanent resident status in September 2018, he then created another account on HealthHub using his NRIC number this time.

And that’s when he thought – why stop at just creating two accounts? Let’s go for 1,200.

Used Others’ NRIC Numbers And Details

Ong first started his little system with more HealthHub accounts created by using others’ NRIC numbers – even if the name provided didn’t match that of the owner.

Did you know that there are websites online that can generate random NRIC numbers for one to use? Well, that’s exactly what Ong struck gold upon finding.

While using NRIC numbers he got from the website, he also made use of names he got from his company’s databases and some he made up to create fake personas.

Ong was also able to come up with email addresses for each account to make them seem more legitimate, before realising he could also use online generators for this.

In order to remain under the radar, Ong purchased almost 500 SIM cards and used the mobile numbers linked to them in creating the accounts.

So for seven months, starting from 26 September until 19 April of the next year, Ong’s scam system grew to contain 1,213 fake accounts, created with sneakily obtained credentials.

And he’s also got killer organisational skills that every boss would want – all the details of each fake account were tracked on a spreadsheet.

Ong answered the quizzes on HealthHub’s portal in order to earn credits on some of the fake accounts, doing it manually at first.

He then took it to the next level and used an app to replicate his actions on a mobile phone, using it to automatically respond to quizzes quickly. Wow.

One mobile phone wasn’t going to cut it either – he proceeded to buy even more so he could answer the quizzes for his points.

Total Of $29,000 Worth Of Credits Redeemed

All that hard work brought Ong a total of $29,000 worth in TransitLink credits, some of which he exchanged for four NTUC FairPrice vouchers and an HPB e-voucher worth about $25.

As he wanted to use the remainder of the TransitLink credits to redeem more NTUC FairPrice vouchers, which required users to share their NETS Flash Pay card numbers, Ong bought 12 more of such cards online.

However, he had to redeem these NTUC FairPrice vouchers offline, so he disguised himself with a cap or a mask at FairPrice outlets.

At the end of his operations, he managed to receive $19,000 worth of NTUC FairPrice vouchers – which could probably provide someone with a few years’ worth of groceries.

Ong sold them to three buyers and received S$17,230 for the sale, which he apparently gave to his sister in Malaysia for her renovation expenses.

Arrested And Jailed

On 18 March 2019, a police report was made by HealthHub’s chief after they noticed suspicious activity going on, and Ong was arrested a month later.

Ong’s lawyer sought five months of jail for his offences, reasoning that his family was “financially pressured” and that Ong was remorseful of his actions.

He has since returned all the money he earned to HPB.

Yet, the judge held that he had premeditated his plans with substantial planning, and sentenced Ong to one and a half years of jail on 28 September this year.

Cheating by impersonation holds up to five years of jail and a fine, or both.

Not only have people like Ong used others’ NRIC numbers to earn credits – some have also resorted to doing the same in order to redeem free masks from vending machines as of late.

So now you know that it’s best to stick to being yourself.