Jail, fine for content creator who used KrisFlyer miles from accounts he bought illegally, Singapore News
The Indonesian national, who worked as a customer service support staff in Indonesia, knew the account details he had purchased were from compromised accounts.
On Aug 6, Rizaldy Primanta Putra, 28, was sentenced to three months and four weeks' jail after he pleaded guilty to two charges for illegally modifying computer material.
He was also ordered to make a compensation order of $1,667.76.
The court heard that Putra is also a content creator with around 120,000 followers online.
His conviction comes after he had first indicated his intention to claim trial to the charges in court on May 29.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Suriya Prakash said that in the seven months from May to November 2024, the Indonesian national obtained eight different KrisFlyer account access details from sellers he had met in a Facebook group.
KrisFlyer is Singapore Airlines' rewards programme, which allows members to earn and redeem miles.
He had paid between $16 and $200 for each account.
After obtaining the accounts, Putra would log into the wallet features in the KrisFlyer mobile application, convert the KrisFlyer miles into KrisPay miles and use them at merchants that accepted the payment method.
Putra arrived in Singapore on June 7, 2024, and made his first transaction one day later in Bugis Junction — using one KrisFlyer account to pay for eight pastries and a drink from Paris Baguette.
In total, he used 4,672 KrisPay miles from the one account that amounted to more than $30.
He left Singapore on June 10, 2024, and returned on June 21, 2024.
On his second trip to Singapore, he decided to purchase a Samsung phone and phone case valued at more than $1,600 from a store at Changi Airport Terminal 3.
He then used 245,491 KrisPay miles from another KrisFlyer account to pay for the device.
The court heard that two other charges, in which he had used KrisPay miles to purchase cameras, shoes and clothes using the KrisFlyer accounts that he purchased, were taken into consideration for his sentencing.
The value of those items was not stated.
The prosecution said Putra was caught only because of the diligence of employees at Singapore Airlines, who had noticed the unauthorised transactions and made a police report.
Putra had left the country sometime in September 2024 but was later detained by the authorities when he returned to Singapore on Jan 11, 2025.
Putra's lawyer, Leong Zhen Yang, said his client did not know his actions were illegal at the time.
Said Leong: "While he accepts that ignorance does not excuse his mistakes, he wants to highlight that he did not know his innocuous transactions would be prohibited in Singapore."
He argued that Putra had purchased the accounts thinking that he would be able to spend the miles legally.
DPP Suriya pointed out that any reasonable person would know that buying an account for $200 and then being able to use the contents of the account to purchase a phone valued at more than $1,600 is a deal too good to be true.
Those found guilty for illegally modifying computer material can be jailed for up to three years, fined up to $10,000, or both.
[[nid:721070]]
This article was first published in The Straits Times . Permission required for reproduction.
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