The Police have arrested three men for their suspected involvement in several cases of theft and cheating involving the use of stolen credit cards.
On 6 August 2016, the Police was alerted to a case of suspected cheating at a luxury retail watch shop along Orchard Road whereby a man presented a credit card bearing a Japanese name. The sales assistant found him suspicious as the latter was conversing with two other Chinese men in Mandarin with a strong Chinese accent. The transaction failed to go through owing to a system error and the trio left the shop. The Police followed up on the case and traced the credit card owner who is a Japanese tourist. It was only at this point that the latter realised that his wallet was missing, prompting him to lodge a police report.
Between 6 and 8 August 2016, officers from Central Division and the Commercial Affairs Department conducted extensive ground enquiries and surveillance to detect the members of the pick-pocket syndicate. On 8 August 2016, between 11.45am and 1.50pm, the trio were arrested at Changi Airport, during a 4-hour coordinated operation. Upon their arrests, an assortment of foreign currencies and items such as wallets, belts, bags, watches and perfume amounting to an estimated S$29,000 were found in their possession and seized as case exhibits. Preliminary investigations revealed that this syndicate would usually target tourists by stealing their wallets and subsequently using the stolen credit cards to make purchases at various luxury shops.
The trio will be charged in Court on 10 August 2016 with the offence of Cheating under Section 420 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224 which carries a maximum punishment of 10 years imprisonment and fine.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
09 August 2016 @ 12:20 PM