• Han Shuzhen, 35, is the first to be dealt with over the scheme
• She had been in debt to a colleague and agreed to participate in defrauding mobile payment service YouTrip to clear her debts
• She helped to open YouTrip accounts and procured stolen credit or debit card details
• She also got three friends and family members to open accounts
• YouTrip suffered about S$122,000 in losses

SINGAPORE — Desperate to clear her outstanding debts to her colleague, Han Shuzhen joined a scheme to defraud mobile payment service YouTrip.

The firm ultimately lost about S$122,000 to the syndicate, which had exploited a loophole in its payment system. 

Han had handed over customers’ credit and debit card details that she copied down while working as a waitress and customer service officer.

The syndicate then used the stolen information to perform unauthorised top-ups to YouTrip accounts before withdrawing the funds from automated teller machines.

On Wednesday (March 3), the 35-year-old Singaporean was sentenced to 20 weeks’ jail. She was involved in defrauding YouTrip of about S$16,700, and is the first to be dealt with. 

Five others have been charged, including the alleged mastermind Jerron Lim Ee Zheng, 26. Their cases are pending.

Han pleaded guilty to three counts of unauthorised use of computer material under the Computer Misuse Act. Seven other similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

Han received an estimated S$3,950 in commission and has not made restitution to YouTrip.

The multi-currency mobile wallet allows users to pay in more than 150 currencies, converted at wholesale exchange rates, without incurring any extra cost.

It is a collaboration between Hong Kong-based You Technologies Group, Singapore transport payment solutions provider EZ-Link and credit card giant Mastercard.

HOW THE SCHEME WORKED

The court heard that Lim allegedly started the fraud in 2018.

He had realised that multiple credit or debit cards could be registered on a single YouTrip account, without the need for a one-time password (OTP) to authenticate the cards or top up the account.

Users would receive a contactless prepaid Mastercard issued by EZ-Link, which had a top-up limit of S$3,000.

The card could be used to pay for items at Mastercard’s merchants, and its stored value could also be withdrawn in cash from automated teller machines overseas.

Lim then purportedly recruited three others — including Loh Hong Jun, 25, and Wong Chen Yui, 32 — to open YouTrip accounts.

They would hand over control of the accounts to him by providing the physical YouTrip cards and login details.

Wong and Loh also allegedly persuaded 16 other people to open more accounts, offering a commission of between S$200 and S$1,000 for each one.

Lim and other syndicate members then purportedly withdrew the stored value in the accounts using ATMs in Malaysia, before sharing the cash among everyone.

HAN’S ROLE IN THE SCHEME

Han and Wong were colleagues at ride-hailing firm Grab for a few months till March 2018.

She borrowed money from him to repay debts she owed to unlicensed moneylenders, and the debt grew to about S$2,200 by the end of 2018.

On Lim’s instructions, Wong asked her to join the scheme to repay her debts. He told her she could earn about S$1,000 by opening a YouTrip account, and S$200 for each set of credit card details she stole.

She agreed to do it “out of greed” and opened an account in January 2019, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Tan Zhi Hao told the court.

She also persuaded three family members and friends to do the same, and handed over control of the accounts.

From October 2018 to January 2019, she worked as a part-time waitress at the Eighteen Bali bar along Bali Lane, and as a customer service officer at a skincare clinic. 

When customers paid with their credit cards, she copied the details down on a piece of paper before processing the payments. She then sent the details to Wong in WhatsApp messages.

Five of the 10 cards were successfully used to top up YouTrip accounts.

The scheme unravelled in February 2019 when a representative from You Technologies lodged a police report.

TODAY previously reported that in late December 2018, the firm’s fraud monitoring system began flagging suspicious activity on accounts that received high top-up amounts which were then immediately depleted by purchases or cash withdrawals.

Ultimately, the syndicate had obtained at least 20 YouTrip accounts and at least 42 sets of debit or credit card information from 40 cardholders.

They also successfully topped up the accounts with about S$128,000. The police recovered about S$6,000 during investigations.

Of the S$16,773 in unauthorised top-ups that Han was involved in, about S$3,000 was recovered by the police.

HAN IS SOLE PROVIDER FOR 3 CHILDREN: LAWYER

In seeking the sentence imposed, DPP Tan argued that Han, while not one of the key figures in the scheme, had played an “active and crucial role” by procuring stolen credit card details and betraying her friends and family’s trust in her.

The prosecutor added that the scheme was “highly sophisticated” and required a “high degree of coordination” between the mastermind and two sets of runners, who opened the accounts and procured card information respectively.

While Han had a smaller role in the scheme, DPP Tan stressed that she had broken the law out of greed.

In mitigation, Han’s lawyer S S Dhillon, who asked for 16 weeks’ jail instead, told the court that she was the sole provider for her three children. She has lived separately from her husband for the past five years.

“She was a mere foot soldier and followed Wong’s instructions. He exploited her financial weakness to his benefit… Before you is a young lady who committed foolish mistakes when she was younger because of her financial difficulties,” the lawyer added.

He also said that she was unlikely to reoffend and had urged him to tell the court that she was very sorry.

In response, DPP Tan said her financial difficulties were “not an excuse” to commit crimes and that while she was not fully aware of all the details of the scheme, she knew the credit card details would be used fraudulently.

For each charge, Han could have been jailed up to two years or fined up to S$5,000, or be penalised with both.