Jail for man who snatched woman's phone at void deck, sold his personal details to scammers, carried knuckle-duster

SINGAPORE — Observing that a woman was using her handphone while alone at a void deck in Hougang at night, a 30-year-old man walked up behind her and snatched her iPhone 13, before selling the device for S$50.

On Friday (June 7), Yogindran Sadasivam, 30, pleaded guilty to one charge of using criminal force to commit theft of property carried by a person and three other charges for various offences.

He was sentenced to 1.5 years and two weeks’ jail. 

The three other charges include two under the Computer Misuse Act and one charge of possession of offensive weapons, for having a knuckle-duster while in a public place. 

Three other charges — for inhaling an intoxicating substance, another theft charge and one charge for the dishonest misappropriation of property — were taken into consideration for sentencing. 

SNATCH THEFT, CARRYING KNUCKLE-DUSTER IN PUBLIC

On Oct 25, 2023 at around 10.20pm, Yogindran spotted a woman who had just alighted from her bus and was sitting on a chair at the void deck of Block 25, Hougang Avenue 3. 

He observed that the woman was alone and was chatting with her friend on her handphone, which was a red iPhone worth around S$1,469. 

Yogindran walked behind the victim and snatched her phone before fleeing the scene. 

The court heard that he had sold the stolen phone for S$50, and the handphone had not been recovered. He also did not make any restitution to the victim. 

A few days later on the night of Nov 4, Yogindran was on his way to a taxi stand at Block 372 Bukit Batok West Avenue 5 after leaving his friend’s home. 

He was stopped by patrolling police officers, who conducted a body search and found a knuckle-duster, a screwdriver and pair of pliers in his possession. 

Court documents did not state why Yogindran had these items in his possession at the time, or why he was stopped for a body search by the police. 

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Janessa Phua told the court that the knuckle-duster is an instrument which, if used as an offensive weapon, is likely to cause death, and Yogindran had no lawful reason to possess it.

He was first arrested on Oct 26 after the snatch theft and was charged in court two days later and remanded until Nov 3. Later that day, Yogindran was released on bail.

He was then caught in possession of a knuckle-duster on Nov 4, and rearrested and remanded that day.

ASSISTING SCAMMERS

Yogindran had also committed earlier offences relating to the two charges under the Computer Misuse Act.

On Aug 4, 2022, he joined a Telegram chat group titled “Fast Job.sg”, which contained job advertisements. 

An unknown person with the moniker “Dexter” approached him on the same day and offered to pay him for the use of his personal particulars. 

This person told Yogindran that his personal particulars would be used to open corporate bank accounts and incorporate a company in Singapore, and he would be appointed as a nominee director in the firm.

The supposed purpose of incorporating the companies under Yogindran’s name was to assist Chinese nationals in conducting their business, which sold sports items, in Singapore.

“Dexter” agreed to pay Yogindran S$1,000 for each corporate bank account made using his particulars, and a commission of S$10,000 to S$15,000 per account if the company experienced growth after three months.

Agreeing to the proposal, Yogindran disclosed his Singpass login credentials and one-time passwords to the user for S$2,000.

On the same day, the same unknown person requested access to Yogindran’s bank account, claiming he needed to prove to his management that he was reliable and trustworthy.

Yogindran updated the account username and password of his DBS Bank account to “Dexter” and withdrew the remaining funds from that account, DPP Phua said. 

He then forwarded the information and one-time passwords from DBS and his signature to the Telegram user. 

Investigations found that on Aug 15, 2022, two companies, SGGX One and PSPX Trading, were incorporated using Yogindran’s information, and he was listed as the sole director and shareholder of both companies. 

The principal business activities of these firms were described to the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra) as the sale of sports items. 

Two bank accounts were opened the next day using Yogindran’s particulars and registered under both companies, after which “Dexter” sent him Acra documents. 

Yogindran did not read the Acra documents, but received S$2,000 on Aug 25 that year. He attempted to contact “Dexter” three days later about potential job opportunities but could no longer find his contact information.

One of the DBS accounts was used to receive 5,600,000 Canadian dollars (S$5,504,000) from the account of Nisga’a Lisims Government, a Canadian government office, on Sept 2, 2022. 

The same day, the funds were rapidly dissipated to various Malaysian and Chinese bank accounts. A staff member of the Royal Bank of Canada then lodged a police report on behalf of the bank, stating that the bank had been the victim of a business email compromise scam.

The bank had made the transfer on Aug 31, 2022 after receiving instructions from fraudsters who impersonated the Nisga’a Lisims Government’s signing officers, said DPP Phua.

Of the total, 4,844,626 Canadian dollars were successfully recovered, and the DBS account was frozen by the police. 

For the snatch theft, Yogindran could have been jailed for up to seven years, with a minimum one year sentence, and could have faced caning. 

Those who have possession of an offensive weapon can be jailed for up to two years or fined, or both. 

For abetting an unknown person to have unauthorised access to his bank account by sharing his login credentials, he could have been jailed for up to two years and faced a fine of up to S$5,000.

For disclosing his Singpass password, Yogindran could have been jailed for up to three years and fined up to S$10,000.