In today’s modern age of technology, whenever we go shopping and whip out our credit cards to pay for goods and services, we don’t really think about where our credit card information may be going.
We certainly wouldn’t expect our card details to end up in the hands of a syndicate.
However, that’s exactly what happened to some unfortunate customers who innocently swiped their cards, only to find that their information had been exploited in a S$120,000 YouTrip fraud.
And now, the jury’s out on one of the people who was involved in the scheme.
Here’s what you need to know.
Background Information on the YouTrip Fraud
If you’re unfamiliar with YouTrip, it’s basically a mobile financial platform that offers a multi-currency mobile wallet and a contactless Mastercard®️ to enable cross-border payments to be made without users having to pay any charges.
The platform allows for payments to be made in over 150 currencies. It is the result of a collaboration between Hong Kong-based You Technologies Group, Singapore payment system EZ-Link, and American financial services multinational corporation (MNC) Mastercard.
Jerron Lim Ee Zheng, 26, had allegedly started the fraud back in 2018.
Upon discovering that multiple credit or debit cards could be registered on one YouTrip account without the need for authentication via a one-time password (OTP), he got three other people to open YouTrip accounts of their own. Two of them were Loh Hong Jun, 25, and Wong Chen Yui, 32.
They then gave him control over their accounts by providing him with their login information, as well as handing over their physical YouTrip cards.
Wong and Loh then got 16 other people to open accounts and offered them a commission of between S$200 and S$1,000 for each one.
The members of the syndicate then proceeded to withdraw the stored value in the accounts via automated teller machines (ATMs) in Malaysia, before sharing the spoils among everyone.
In total, the syndicate had managed to defraud YouTrip of approximately S$122,000. They had gotten hold of at least 20 YouTrip accounts and at least 42 sets of debit or credit card information from 40 cardholders.
They had successfully topped up the accounts with around S$128,000, about S$6,000 of which was recovered by the police.
35-Year-Old Woman Who Was Part of S$120,000 YouTrip Fraud is First From Scheme to be Sentenced
On Wednesday (3 Mar), Han Yuzhen, 35, was sentenced to 20 weeks’ jail. She is the first person in the syndicate to be sentenced; five others have been charged, including supposed mastermind Lim, but their cases remain pending.
She had defrauded YouTrip of about S$16,700, and received a commission of around S$3,950 which has not been restored to the firm.
Han pleaded guilty to three counts of unauthorised use of computer material under the Computer Misuse Act, and seven other similar charges were considered for sentencing.
She could have faced imprisonment for up to two years or fined up to S$5,000, or both for each charge.
Han had borrowed money from Wong to pay back debts she owed to unlicensed moneylenders. By 2018, the debt grew to around S$2,200.
Upon Lim’s instructions, Wong had asked Han to join in the fraudulent scheme as a way to pay back her debts.
After Han joined, she managed to get three of her family members and friends to follow in her footsteps, and she gave control of their accounts over to the syndicate.
Now, the following might sound like a scene straight out of a spy movie. Perhaps we’ve uncovered a potential plotline for a future instalment in the James Bond franchise?
Han worked as a part-time waitress at the Eighteen Bali bar along Bali Lane, as well as a customer service officer at a skincare clinic from Oct 2018 to Jan 2019.
Whenever customers made payment with their credit cards, she recorded their details down on a piece of paper, which she then sent to Wong through WhatsApp messages.
Han was complicit in unauthorised top-ups amounting to S$16,773, of which around S$3,000 was recovered by the police.
Although she was not one of the major figures in the scheme, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Tan argued that Han had broken the law because of greed, and that she had played an “active and crucial role” by obtaining card details and betraying the trust of her friends and family.
Han’s lawyer, S S Dhillon, who asked for 16 weeks’ jail for her instead, argued that she was the sole breadwinner for three children, having lived away from her husband for five years.
He described her as “a young lady who committed foolish mistakes when she was younger because of her financial difficulties”, and that Wong had “exploited her financial weakness to his benefit”.
However, DPP Tan responded by saying that her crimes could not be excused by “financial difficulties”.
For more information, read this article.
Feature Image: Facebook (YouTrip)
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