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Singapore

Former Haidilao employee jailed for stealing from colleagues, using cards to make EZ-Link top-ups

Former Haidilao employee jailed for stealing from colleagues, using cards to make EZ-Link top-ups

File photo of a Haidilao restaurant. (Photo: Facebook/Haidilao Singapore)

SINGAPORE: An employee at a Haidilao hotpot restaurant stole cash and cards from three of his colleagues, using the cards to make top-ups to his EZ-Link card.

Wong Chun Yao, 25, was given five weeks' jail on Friday (Oct 30) after pleading guilty to five charges of theft and unauthorised access to computer material. Another nine charges were taken into consideration.

The court heard that Wong worked as a server at Haidilao Hot Pot @ 313, a popular hotpot restaurant at 313 Somerset in Orchard Road.

He began stealing on Aug 16 last year, first targeting a 22-year-old female Malaysian colleague who placed her haversack on a backroom shelf for employees of the restaurant.

Wong took the victim's DBS debit card from her purse, in actions that were caught on closed-circuit television footage. He went to Somerset MRT Station and used the card to top up S$100 into his EZ-Link card using PayWave.

He later went to the Transitlink office and withdrew the S$100 in cash.

Several days later on Aug 24, 2019, he targeted a 37-year-old woman, who had placed her bag in the staff locker. Wong saw that the locker was unsecured and stole S$150 from the victim's bag.

That same day, Wong saw that a 64-year-old colleague's locker was open. He took an OCBC debit card from her bag and used it to top up S$200 into his EZ-Link card. 

The next day, the 64-year-old victim realised that she had lost her debit card and reported it to her management. Wong admitted to his actions and told his supervisor, who asked him to surrender himself to the police station. Wong later returned his three colleagues the amounts he stole from them. 

CHANGED JOB, BUT STOLE AGAIN

He began working at a different store - Ginza Kuroson at Takashimaya Departmental Store.

On Oct 18, 2019, Wong stole items including two debit cards from one of his new colleagues at Ginza Kuroson. He used the cards to top up S$200 in total to his EZ-Link card.

The victim lodged a police report two days later and Wong later returned her the sums he took.

The prosecutor sought at least six weeks' jail, while the defence said he hoped the sentence would not be crushing, so Wong would have a job to go back to.

He said Wong was under pressure from loan shark harassment and made full restitution despite his financial issues. He now works at a cricket club.

The judge said the prosecution's requested sentence was quite fair, but gave a slight discount for the fact that Wong had made restitution and pleaded guilty.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this article said the accused is Malaysian. In fact, he is Singaporean. We apologise for the error.

Source: CNA/ll(ac)

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