Cashless payment is now extremely commonplace, especially in a pandemic where we go out less.
In fact, a majority of hawker stalls have already accepted this way of payment.
But this also means that stealing doesn’t have to be done face to face now; all you need are the correct numbers.
And a good memory.
Former Miss Universe S’pore Contestant Memorised Friends’ Debit Card Numbers to Shop Online
Some of you may recognise Ashley Rita Wong Kai Lin from way back as a Miss Universe Singapore 2017 contestant.
More recently, she is also known as an esports caster and commentator.
However, she pleaded guilty on 23 Dec to making unauthorised purchases on a friend’s debit card.
27-year-old Wong did this by memorising the card’s details.
She admitted to four charges under the Computer Misuse and Cybersecurity Act.
Not only that, there’s another 27 charges taken into consideration for sentencing.
And it seemed that these acts started even before she was a Miss Universe contestant.
First Time Was After A Breakup
It started way back in 2016 when Wong had just broken up with her boyfriend.
She then went out socially with the first victim, whom she got to know through a mutual friend.
On one occasion, the 28-year-old victim left his wallet on the table to use the toilet.
Wong took the chance to memorise his card’s details before putting it back.
The man got notified of unauthorised transactions later on and initially did not suspect her.
However, upon confronting her, Wong openly admitted to using his card for purchases.
In fact, had done so around 20 times between August and September 2016, at times even purchasing items that cost hundreds of dollars.
And she only compensated two of the transactions.
The victim managed to dispute another with the bank.
The Second Victim
The next person who fell victim to Wong’s actions was a 26-year-old woman, who was also her friend.
Upon an attempt to make an online payment, the victim realised she could not due to a lack of funds.
It was later found that there were two unauthorised transactions using her card, one of which was S$264 for a hotel stay.
Wong then admitted to doing it when confronted, memorising her card details without her friend knowing.
The friend also found out her past history of using another person’s credit card for more unauthorised transactions.
Thankfully, this victim managed to get a refund from her bank while the bank recovered the losses from the hotel.
Wong has since compensated the hotel.
Sentencing
After all that, it’s doubtful that anyone would escape punishment.
The prosecutor mentioned that in all, there were actually three victims and a total of 31 charges.
Over S$2,000 was involved overall.
However, he also noted that Wong had admitted to the crimes and made restitution.
She also submitted was a psychiatric report based on her condition in 2016, stating that she was not behaving normally.
She did not say what conditions she had and has been seeing a psychiatrist, making sure she is “alright mentally”.
Wong last saw the psychiatrist in November.
The judge has asked her to be assessed at the Institue of Mental Health and she is set to return to court in February 2021.
Featured Image: fotografos / Shutterstock.com
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