Five Malaysian men, aged between 20 and 38, who are members of a transnational credit card fraud syndicate, were convicted in court between 18 April and 9 May 2018, for making fraudulent online purchases of tourist attraction tickets with stolen credit card details.
On 18 November 2017, the Police received several reports that some redemption letters for tourist attraction tickets, which were bought online with stolen credit card details, were presented at the ticket counters located at the Sentosa Island. Acting on the information received, the Police arrested 21-year-old Mohamad Shafiq Bin Arzemi and 20-year-old Muhammad Ariff Bin Mustaffa, at Sentosa Island on the same day. Two counterfeit cards were recovered and seized as case exhibits.
Through extensive follow-up investigations, the Police established the identities of the duo’s three accomplices. They are 38-year-old Sia Chung Boon, 22-year-old Rafiuddin Bin Suddin and 20-year-old Muhammad Amirulzaman Bin Kamaruzaman. The trio worked for the same transnational credit card fraud syndicate and were arrested at the Tuas Checkpoint on 18 November 2017 when they tried to leave Singapore together.
Between 18 April and 9 May 2018, the five syndicate members were convicted and sentenced to imprisonment terms ranging from 11 months to 19 months:
a 38-year-old Sia Chung Boon was convicted and sentenced to 19 months’ imprisonment for one charge of Abetment by Conspiracy to Cheat under Section 420 read with Section 109 of the Penal Code, one charge of Abetment by Conspiracy to Cheat under Section 420 read with Section 116 of the Penal Code, and one charge for abetment by intentionally obstructing the course of justice under Sec 204A read with Section 109 of the Penal Code. Two other charges of Abetment by Conspiracy to Cheat under Section 420 read with Section 116 of the Penal Code were taken into consideration for the purpose of sentencing.
b 22-year-old Rafiuddin Bin Suddin was convicted and sentenced to 14 months’ imprisonment for two charges of Abetment by Conspiracy to Cheat under Section 420 read with Section 109 and Abetment by intentionally obstructing the course of justice which is an offence punishable under Section 204A read with Section 109 of the Penal Code. Two other charges of Abetment by Conspiracy to cheat under Section 420 read with Section 116 were taken into consideration for the purpose of sentencing;
c 21-year-old Mohamad Shafiq Bin Arzemi was convicted and sentenced to 11 months’ imprisonment for one charge of Abetment by Conspiracy to Cheat under Section 420 read with Section 116 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224. Two other charges of Abetment by Conspiracy to Cheat under Section 420 read with Section 116 were taken into consideration for the purpose of sentencing;
d 20-year-old Muhammad Amirulzaman Bin Kamaruzaman was convicted and sentenced to 11 months’ imprisonment for one charge of Abetment by Conspiracy to Cheat under Section 420 read with Section 116 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224. One other charge of Abetment by Conspiracy to Cheat under Section 420 read with Section 109 and another charge of Abetment by Conspiracy to Cheat under Section 420 read with Section 116 were taken into consideration for the purpose of sentencing; and
e 20-year-old Muhammad Ariff Bin Mustaffa was convicted and sentenced to 10 months’ imprisonment for one charge of Abetment by Conspiracy to Cheat under Section 420 read with Section 116 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224. One other charge of Abetment by Conspiracy to Cheat under Section 420 read with Section 116 was taken into consideration for the purpose of sentencing.
The Police would like to advise all merchants to adopt verification standards such as requesting for copies of the credit/debit card and identification documents in order to ensure that purchases are made by the actual cardholders.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
17 May 2018 @ 1:40 PM