For any upstanding citizen, finding and returning lost items should come as second nature.
However, some allow their dishonest side to take over. This was what happened to a Ministry of Manpower (MOM) officer who used someone else’s lost credit card to make unauthorised purchases in March.
Having found the card while walking home, Seah Guo Rong then used it to top up his EZ-Link card and purchase a gold ring.
Source: cottonbro on Pexels, for illustration purposes only
After reselling the items, he used the cash to pay his bills, as well as purchase groceries and TOTO tickets.
For his crimes, he has been sentenced to eight months in jail after pleading guilty to two counts of cheating.
According to Channel NewsAsia (CNA), Seah informed his supervisor that he wanted to take an urgent half-day leave after finding the credit card on the side of the road in Hougang.
He later went over to Hougang MRT station and used the credit card to add S$20 to his EZ-Link card.
Source: Google Maps
Following that, he made his way to a jewellery shop at People’s Park Complex in Chinatown.
There, he told the staff that he was looking for a pure gold ring.
He tried on a few and settled on one that cost S$6,330, paying for it with the credit card he found.
Next, Seah tried to purchase another gold item for about S$12,000.
When the system rejected the transaction, he left the store and disposed of the credit card and receipt for the ring.
With a valuable gold ring in his hands, he entered a Maxi-cash pawnbroker to resell the piece of jewellery.
The Straits Times (ST) reports that he received S$4,550 for the gold ring.
Source: Mariano Rivas on Unsplash, for illustration purposes only
Seah then used the cash to buy groceries, pay his bills, and purchase TOTO tickets.
He was arrested in May when the owner of the credit card lodged a police report about the missing card.
The owner pointed out that someone had made an unauthorised transaction of over S$6,300 with it.
In court, Seah pleaded guilty to two counts of cheating. Three additional charges were also taken into consideration.
The prosecution sought 10 months in jail, saying that Seah, who had a monthly salary of S$5,000, had committed the offence out of greed.
On the other hand, his defence mentioned that Seah had acted out of desperation as he was unemployed for almost three years before his role at MOM.
With “mounting financial demands” made worse by the pandemic and the birth of his son, his savings depleted quickly.
Due to a “temporary lapse of judgement”, he then “succumbed to the temptation” of using the card.
His desperation was further showcased through the TOTO tickets he bought, hoping for a chance at better fortunes.
However, the judge noted that Seah had tried to dispose of the evidence and sentenced him to eight months’ jail.
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Featured images adapted from Aukid phumsirichat on Pexels.
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