Jail for man, 25, who gave in to loan shark's threats by handing over banking details for use in scams

SINGAPORE — In debt from his gambling, Alvin Phua Khian Tat accepted fast loans from an unlicensed moneylender but couldn't keep up with the repayments. Facing threats from the loan shark, he agreed to provide access to his bank accounts in return for a reduction in interest.

At least one of the bank accounts was used by the moneylender to commit scams.

On Tuesday (June 6), the 25-year-old, who was a food delivery rider at the time, pleaded guilty to one charge of cheating and another charge of breaching the Computer Misuse Act by providing access to his personal bank account.

Two other similar charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.

Phua was sentenced to three months' jail.

WHAT HAPPENED

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Joseph Gwee told the court that sometime in early 2022, Phua was in debt and had responded to random messages from an unknown unlicensed moneylender who called himself Darren.

Phua took out a S$3,000 loan with Darren and was then verbally harassed and threatened by the man when he could not keep up with his repayments. Details of the threats were not provided in court documents.

Darren then offered to reduce the interest owing on the loan by S$500 each time Phua provided him with access to one of his bank accounts.

Phua agreed to the proposal and opened an OCBC account in his own name for Darren to control.

He gave his OCBC automated teller machine (ATM) card to Darren by leaving it at the staircase of a Sengkang housing block along with the PIN, i-banking credentials and user-ID for the account.

Phua provided the one-time passwords (OTPs) when required.

Investigations later revealed that the OCBC account was involved in scams committed in Singapore.

In addition to the OCBC bank account, Phua also gave Darren access to his personal Standard Chartered bank account.

Under Darren's instructions, Phua placed his ATM card in an empty cigarette box and left it at the staircase of an Ang Mo Kio housing block.

Phua again furnished Darren with the banking details needed to carry out transactions, even though he was not authorised to do so, DPP Gwee said.

After providing the details of the two accounts, Phua stopped receiving threats from Darren in relation to his loans.

However, around September 2022, Phua received a call from Darren who complained that he had difficulty accessing an account. Court documents did not indicate which account this is. 

This prompted Phua to change his banking details for two of his other bank accounts to prevent Darren from using them. These two other accounts pertain to the charges taken into consideration for sentencing.

Phua, who was unrepresented, asked District Judge James Elisha Lee for leniency saying that he had "gambled a lot" and was "forced" to do this because he could not afford to pay back his loans.

He added that he initially declined the offer and "had no choice" but to accept as he did not want to "bring harm" to his family.

In delivering his sentence, the judge noted Phua's circumstances which were largely due to his gambling habits but found that general deterrence was still warranted given the "proliferation" of such criminal activities.

Anyone guilty of cheating can be jailed for up to three years or fined, or both.

Those guilty of providing others with unauthorised access to bank accounts can be fined up to S$5,000 or jailed for up to two years, or both.