Woman Jailed After Earning Over $3 Million by Pocketing 25K Defective iPhones from Repair Company

By
Shawn Ambrose
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What should you do if you’re in debt?

Cut out some unnecessary expenses?

Talk to a financial advisor?

Well, for one 39-year-old woman, cheating people out of $5.7 million was her preferred option to recoup her money.

Woman Jailed After Earning Over $3 Million by Pocketing 25K Defective iPhones from Repair Company

A logistics manager for an iPhone repair service company was jailed for 9 years after she misappropriated defective phones and sold them to unsuspecting customers.

Her accomplice, an ex-colleague, has been charged and his case is still pending.

Serene Ng Shu Kian and Malaysian Lim Hen Hee sold 25,501 of the devices for more than S$5.7 million.

Ng earned around S$3.1 million in profits, and used for them for her personal expenses, as well as to repay her debts and set up a provision shop, according to TODAY.

So, how did the ruse work?

Sold to Buyers in Malaysia

From Jan 2018 to Jan 2019, Ng worked for Pegatron Service Singapore, a company that provided repair services for Apple products in Singapore and other Asian countries.

At the time, the 39-year-old was a logistics manager. Her role included receiving and assigning defective iPhones to repair teams, then delivering the phones to customers.

But in late 2017, Ng and Lee concocted a plan to make some extra cash: they would steal the defective phones and sell them to third parties abroad.

Ng would instruct Lee to charge the batteries of the defective iPhones, pick out the ones that could be switched on, and place them in a cabinet in the logistics office.

Lee would then pack the phones into boxes, which Ng would later endorse and deliver to a Malaysian address that Lim provided, through a courier company.

Once overseas, Lim made arrangements with buyers to sell the defective phones.

Lim kept the profits for himself for the first few months, as Ng owed him a debt of S$100,000 from a personal loan.

After some time, Ng received half of their earnings.

She later negotiated for 60% of the earnings, as she felt she did most of the work.

Caught in a Surprise Check

Their offences came to light when three auditors from Apple’s compliance and security team ran a surprise check on Pegatron in May 2019.

There, they found many iPhones unaccounted for. Pegatron’s general manager lodged a police report three days later.

Even though Ng was the one who misappropriated 25,501 phones, Pegatron had to compensate Apple about US$5 million (S$6.6 million).

The company sued Ng for damages in 2019 and obtained an injunction order stopping her from disposing of her assets in Singapore.

While she has not made restitution, Ng has agreed that the properties seized during investigations, worth around S$130,000, can be given as restitution to Pegatron.

Borrowed $300,000 From Loan Sharks

So, why did she need all this money?

Well, it turns out that Ng had borrowed S$300,000 from loan sharks, which led to her paying them more than S$3 million.

For her offence, which is criminal breach of trust as a servant, Ng could have been jailed for up to 15 years, and fined.

If you’re drowning in debt, seek financial help. 

Resorting to crime will only land you in more trouble.

Featured Image: KenSoftTH / Shutterstock.com (Image is for illustration purpose only)

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Shawn Ambrose
Email: [email protected]