A 26-year-old Singaporean man was charged in court on Friday (Oct 27) afternoon for using credit card details he got from the Internet to make unauthorised purchases from an online retailer.

Earlier in the day, the police said John Foo Chi Yang bought more than S$19,000 worth of items from an online retailer using at least 15 stolen credit cards.

But in court, Foo was charged with just one count of cheating committed on the morning of Oct 15 this year.

He is accused of placing an order for three tins of Mead Johnson Nutrition Enfamil formulated milk powder valued at a total of S$320.64 on an online concierge and delivery service provider. Court documents did not reveal details of the concierge and the provider.

The vendor was said to have been duped into believing that it was authorised to receive payment for the order through a State Bank of India VISA credit card, and proceeded to deliver the products.

Foo will be remanded for one week to assist in further investigations, and TODAY understands that more charges will be brought against him.

In a media conference earlier on Friday, the police said Foo made more than 50 fraudulent transactions using at least 15 credit cards.

Details of how and where the suspect got the credit card details on the Internet were not available. A 40-year-old cardholder living in Singapore lodged a police report on Oct 16 after finding unauthorised transactions on her credit card statement.

The suspect allegedly bought items he could easily resell on online marketplaces for profit, such as milk powder, diapers, bird's nest and tonic wine.

His modus operandi for collecting his purchases led police to his trail.

Whenever he made orders from the unnamed Singapore-based online retailer, the suspect would give invalid addresses so that the delivery man would call him to arrange an alternative pickup.

Police said the suspect would always collect his purchases at a void deck wearing a face mask. Officers swooped in on him when he was collecting his latest batch of purchases on Thursday.

The items police seized from the suspect include more than 20 cans of milk powder, 15 prepaid cards, and eight electronic devices.

If convicted of cheating, the suspect faces up to 10 years' jail and a fine for each charge.

Source:
courtesy of TODAY

by WONG PEI TING,FARIS MOKHTAR

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