A 20-year-old Singaporean male, Yee Jia Hao (“Yee”) has been convicted of three counts of cheating and one count of attempted cheating in relation to the Temporary Relief Fund (“TRF”).
In April 2020, the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) launched the TRF, which provided financial support to Singaporeans who were severely affected by the economic impact of COVID-19. Between 16 and 30 April 2020, Yee made eight fraudulent online TRF applications. Two of these applications were made in his name, while the remaining six were made in the names of his parents and friends. He had requested for their Singapore Personal Access (SingPass) credentials and One-Time Passwords (OTP) on the pretext of assisting them to apply for Government grants or SkillsFuture courses. Yee subsequently submitted TRF applications instead to MSF, without seeking the consent of his parents and friends, and made various false declarations in these applications.
In all eight applications, Yee had wilfully and falsely declared that the applicants had lost at least 30 per cent of their personal income due to COVID-19. He also provided his PayNow bank account details in these applications for the pay-out to be disbursed to him.
The fraudulent applications were detected in the course of MSF’s post-disbursement audits for TRF to verify the eligibility of applicants.
For his offences, Yee was sentenced to 18 months’ probation. He will also have to perform 60 hours of community service and attend a gambling relapse prevention programme.
The Police treat abuses of Government grants seriously and will not hesitate to take action against any attempt to cheat the Government. Offenders will be dealt with swiftly and severely in accordance with the law.
The Police also advise members of the public not to disclose their SingPass credentials, OTP, and other personal information to anyone, as these can enable misuse of or fraudulent access to various digital services provided by Government agencies.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
19 January 2021 @ 2:30 PM