Tourist who used another person's debit card to buy goods worth over S$300,000 in Singapore gets four years' jail

The Star

8 hours ago

SINGAPORE: A man had planned to travel to Singapore in 2024 for a holiday when he received instructions from a Telegram contact to use the latter's debit card to buy gold bars and luxury watches here.
Liao Nuoqian was back home in Hong Kong when an unidentified man handed him the card, and upon reaching Singapore, used it to buy items worth more than S$300,000 in total.
They included multiple gold bars, three Rolex watches and a fourth watch from Patek Philippe.
On Tuesday (June 24), Liao, 25, was sentenced to four years' jail. He had pleaded guilty to multiple charges including five counts of cheating involving nearly $185,000.
Eighteen other charges, including 10 counts of cheating relating to more than $116,000, were considered during his sentencing.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Lim Li Ting said that his offences were linked to three Chinese nationals.
Their full names have been redacted from court documents, which identified the trio as Wang, 26, Zhuo, 28 and Wen, 30. Wang is a woman, while the other two are men.
Liao was in Hong Kong in late July 2024 when he befriended the male contact, known only as 'Gan Tie Xia', from a Telegram group chat where users shared sexual content with one another.
The prosecutor told the court that Liao knew that Gan was a Chinese national, but the two men had never met each other. Liao also did not know his real name, address and contact number.
During one of their chats on the messaging platform, Liao told Gan that he would be travelling to Singapore in August 2024 for a holiday.
Hearing this, Gan asked if Liao could use Gan's debit card to buy gold bars and luxury watches in Singapore.
DPP Lim said: 'Thereafter, the accused was to pass the purchased items to (Gan, through Gan's acquaintances) in Singapore.
'(Gan also) promised to engage the accused to resell the goods overseas and share the profits with him.'
When Liao questioned him about the plan, Gan replied that he wanted the funds deposited in the account linked to his debit card to flow out from China to another undisclosed country.
Liao agreed to help Gan and several days before flying to Singapore, received the China-issued debit card from an unidentified man. The card holder's name was not stated on it, the court heard.
Gan also told Liao to forge the card holder's signature shown at the back of the card when making purchases.
'This was to give the impression that the accused was the rightful card holder,' said the prosecutor.
Liao arrived in Singapore on Aug 26, 2024, and Gan asked for a photograph of his passport details to arrange for his accommodation here.
Liao went to an undisclosed hotel and was at its lobby when he met Wen, who took him to a room to meet Zhuo and Wang. He then handed over the debit card when Wen asked for it.
Liao then shared the room with Wen, while Zhuo and Wang shared another room.
The next day, Gan shared with Liao the personal identification number linked to the card. He instructed him to follow Zhuo to various stores, and use it to buy gold bars and watches.
The prosecutor said: '(Gan) had earlier informed Zhuo of the specific stores to bring the accused to. The accused did as instructed, and Zhuo handed the card to the accused to make the purchases.
'At each store, (either Gan or Zhuo) would inform the accused of the specific watch or quantity of gold bars to purchase. Thereafter, Zhuo would leave the store for the accused to complete the purchase.'
Zhuo told Liao that he could not remain in the stores, claiming he had previously bought gold bars or watches from them. Zhuo also claimed that the employees of the stores would recognise him and become suspicious if he returned to buy more of such items.
Liao used the card to buy the luxury items on Aug 27 and 28. After that, he handed the goods and the card to Zhuo.
Liao was in his hotel room when he saw Wen removing the watches from their packaging before storing the gold bars in the watch boxes. Wen then placed the valuables in his own luggage, and Liao received a gold bar for his role in the operation.
Court documents stated that Zhuo left Singapore on Aug 28, 2024, while Wang and Wen did so the next day.
The offences came to light when Singapore's Commercial Affairs Department received information that a scam victim transferred more than 148,000 yuan (S$26,400) to the bank account linked to the debit card.
Officers arrested Liao in Orchard Road on Aug 30, 2024. - The Straits Times/ANN