SINGAPORE: A man roped into a scheme to buy and resell iPhones using stolen credit card details was jailed for 23 months on Thursday (Jun 26).
Tang Chin Huat, 27, was asked by his childhood friend, Ding Jiun Hao, to participate in the plan with both agreeing to split their profits.
The person who allegedly proposed the scheme to Ding, Liau Wei Zheng, is at large and believed to be in Malaysia. Ding’s case is before the courts.
Tang pleaded guilty to two out of nine charges of cheating, and one count of removing criminal properties from Singapore. The remaining charges of cheating were taken into consideration for his sentencing.
In November 2024, Liau asked Ding if he wanted to earn extra money. Liau said that a person would hand him credit cards and they would buy “as many iPhones as possible in Singapore” with the cards to resell in Malaysia for a profit.
The credit cards belonged to people who did not know that their credit card details had been stolen.
Liau was promised a profit of RM500 (S$151) for each phone sold, and he offered to share the profits with Ding.
Ding, who did not have a car, then suggested bringing Tang into the scheme. Tang, a Malaysian, worked as a driver ferrying customers between Malaysia and Singapore.
Tang agreed to participate in exchange for 25 per cent of the profit.
On Nov 8, 2024, Tang drove Liau and Ding from Malaysia to visit four mobile phone stores in Singapore.
Before buying the phones, Liau would call an unknown person to ask for credit card details, which would be stored in an e-wallet.
Liau then paid for the iPhones by scanning his phone on the respective stores’ payment terminal using the victims’ credit cards.
Ding then collected the receipts and kept the mobile phones in his bag. Meanwhile, Tang waited in the car.
A total of eight cardholders had their credit card details misused.
That day, the trio bought a total of 23 phones worth S$45,291.20 (US$35,504) from the four stores.
The staff from one of the stores found the large purchase suspicious and requested a passport verification from Liau before handing over five of those phones.
Liau and Ding left without them. Hence they had a total of 18 iPhone 16 Pro Max models, valued at S$39,751.20.
At around 8pm, the trio entered Malaysia. The next day, Liau sold the mobile phones in Malaysia, and met Ding and Tang at his condominium.
Tang and Ding each received RM2,250 from Liau for their roles in the scheme.
Ding was arrested when he entered Singapore on Nov 10 to ferry passengers in Singapore. Tang found out that he was wanted by the Singapore police from newspapers and entered Singapore on Nov 24 to surrender himself.
He was arrested and has since made restitution of S$2,000.
The prosecution sought 23 to 25 months for Tang, describing the offence as transnational and syndicated.
“The offending was sophisticated due to the use of technology to reduce detection risk. The victims’ stolen credit card details were sent via phone by unknown persons and then stored in the main accused Liau’s phone electronic wallet for payment.
“This made detection more difficult as payment could be made without presenting physical cards. The names on the physical cards showed that they belonged to different persons,” the prosecution said.
