Elderly hawker suspects her CDC vouchers worth S$800 were stolen, makes police report

Elderly hawker suspects someone stole her CDC vouchers after another person claimed them

An elderly hawker filed a police report, suspecting her Community Development Vouchers were stolen after an unknown person claimed them.

Seventy-six-year-old Mdm Shen Miaolan told Shin Min Daily News that someone swiped both batches of this year’s CDC vouchers, worth S$800 in total, right under her nose.

Woman shocked to learn CDC vouchers might be stolen

Mdm Shen, who runs an economical rice stall at People’s Park Food Centre in Chinatown, received a reminder in July to collect her SG60 vouchers.

When she went to a Hougang community club to collect the SG60 paper vouchers, the staff asked whether she had collected her CDC vouchers in January and May.

All Singaporean households were eligible for S$300 in CDC vouchers in January and S$500 in May.

Their distribution was a shock for her.

CDC vouchers purportedly claimed without her knowledge

However, when Mdm Shen asked the staff to print her CDC vouchers, the staff said someone had already claimed them.

They told her someone claimed the first batch on 12 Jan and the second on 18 May, both in the afternoon.

“I was working at the stall on both occasions and could not have claimed them in person at those timings,” she said.

Mdm Shen repeatedly asked her son whether he had claimed them, but he denied doing so.

She explained that she does not know how to use a smartphone.

Plus, she received CDC vouchers in paper form from the community club.

Mdm Shen added that she never claimed or used any vouchers before July.

Hawker makes police report over suspected stolen CDC vouchers

Mdm Shen suspected someone had fraudulently claimed her CDC vouchers and filed a police report.

She hoped to find out who fraudulently claimed her vouchers, as she said that her job is tough.

It requires her to stand for nearly 16 hours a day and finish work late at night.

Thus, the S$800 is a much-needed living allowance from the Government for her.

With Mdm Shen’s permission, a reporter from Shin Min assisted her in logging into the CDC voucher redemption portal.

According to records, she used up her first batch of vouchers on 29 March and the second batch on 14 July.

The records also indicate that most redemptions occurred at Sheng Siong Supermarket, grocery stores, and minimarts in Hougang.

Mdm Shen said she found the records puzzling because she always shops near her home with cash.

She insisted that she has never used vouchers and had never seen these records before.

Also read: Man arrested for hacking attempts on CDC voucher system, no vouchers compromised