Woman, 21, with no driving licence used mother’s Singpass account to access car-sharing vehicles

SINGAPORE — A 21-year-old woman admitted on Friday (July 22) to duping car-sharing firm Tribecar into allowing her to rent vehicles by using her mother’s Singpass account to create an account.

Kylie Lee Wen Hui did not have a valid driving licence but wanted to drive a car, the court heard.

She pleaded guilty to one charge each of cheating by personation and driving without a valid Class 3 licence. Three other charges, including unauthorised access to computer material, will be taken into consideration for sentencing on Sept 2.

District Judge Ronald Gwee called for a report to assess if she is suitable for probation, which is usually offered to young offenders between 16 and 21 years old.

The sentence does not result in a recorded criminal conviction, and offenders will be able to continue with their education or employment while serving their sentence.

Lee first accessed her 53-year-old mother’s Singpass account through the older woman’s mobile phone in October last year. Singpass is a government-developed authentication system for e-services.

After obtaining her mother’s National Identity Registration Card number from the Singpass account, Lee used it to create a Tribecar account without her mother’s knowledge and consent.

Between Oct 11 and Nov 4 last year, she rented cars 21 times using the account. 

On Nov 4 close to 11pm, she was driving along Seletar Aerospace Drive when a traffic police officer stopped her at a roadblock. The officer then discovered that she did not have a Class 3 driving licence.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Eugene Lau told the court that he did not object to a probation suitability report, while Lee — who did not have a lawyer — asked for leniency and gave the assurance to the court that she would not do this again.

When questioned by District Judge Gwee on why she committed the offences, she replied: “If I can be honest, I honestly was not thinking straight.

“I was under very bad influence among friends and I do blame myself for being influenced by them, but I am trying to do better so I stopped everything. I left all those behind. I just want to be better.”

Those convicted of cheating by personation can be jailed for up to five years or fined, or both.

Those who drive without a valid licence can be jailed for up to three years or fined up to S$10,000, or both. Repeat offenders can face up to twice that punishment.