Siblings in ATM card fraud case jailed

SINGAPORE — Concerned when he was unable to contact his elder brother here, Chinese national Zhao Yuxin, 30, booked a flight to Singapore to look for him, but he was arrested when he arrived at Changi Airport on May 14.

Little did he know that his brother, Zhao Yukun, 37, had been in remand here since April 25 for crimes that the two siblings committed early this year.

On Thursday (Sept 6), Zhao Yukun was jailed for three years after pleading guilty to six counts of theft, one count of dishonestly retaining stolen property, and one count of possessing equipment to make cloned Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards. Seventeen counts of theft were also taken into consideration for sentencing.

The younger Zhao was also jailed for six months for two counts of theft, while a similar charge was also taken into consideration for sentencing.

The court heard that on Jan 20, the duo flew to Singapore from China with a number of cloned ATM cards and attempted to make illegal withdrawals.

On Jan 21, Zhao Yukun successfully withdrew S$1,000 from an OCBC ATM at the V Hotel in Lavender.

However, the siblings' subsequent two attempts to withdraw cash from a United Overseas Bank (UOB) ATM at the same place were unsuccessful. They left for China two days later.

UOB lodged a police report on Feb 27 after a white plastic card was found in its ATM at V Hotel. Footage from the ATM's closed circuit television camera, as well as the machine's transaction records, was subsequently reviewed.

The elder Zhao returned to Singapore on April 20, this time carrying over 40 cloned ATM cards. Over the next three days, he went on a crime spree, targeting various ATMs belonging to DBS, OCBC and UOB, mostly around Lavender.

For each successful attempt,  Zhao Yukun managed to withdraw cash ranging from S$100 to S$1,500.

His luck ran out on April 24, when he was arrested at about 12.20am while leaving a UOB ATM located at King George’s Avenue. He was found with nine white plastic cards with magnetic strips, three Union Pay ATM cards, and some accessories.

The police later seized more items from his room at V Hotel, including 22 white plastic cards with magnetic strips, 12 ATM bank cards, a laptop, an encoder device for reading and/or writing information on cards with magnetic strips, and S$12,587 in cash.

Calling for a deterrent sentence for the duo, Deputy Public Prosecutor Nicholas Tan said that their fraud undermined Singapore's financial infrastructure and the public’s confidence in the use of ATMs and ATM cards.

DPP Tan added: "The accused entered Singapore for the sole purpose of committing these offences."

Such offences are also "inherently difficult to detect," said DPP Tan, particularly in this case as the culprits were foreigners.

In the elder Zhao's case, DPP Tan said that while he had no previous criminal record, he was "essentially a repeat offender" as he was emboldened by his first attempt in January and made a second trip to Singapore.

DPP Tan also noted that Zhao Yukun could have taken more money with the number of ATM cards in his possession.

"This is significant because there are often limits on how much one can withdraw from a bank account via an ATM in a day," said DPP Tan, who asked for a jail term of two years and 10 months for Zhao Yukun.

Calling for a lighter sentence of two years and four months, Zhao Yukun's lawyer, Mr Siaw Kin Yeow, said in mitigation that the elder Zhao may face prosecution by the Chinese authorities when he returns to China as he possessed personal information belonging to Chinese nationals.

No restitution was made for both cases.