Man withdrew S$20,000 stranger mistakenly sent him via PayNow, gets fined by court

SINGAPORE: A man who wanted to transfer S$20,000 (US$14,910) to himself via PayNow entered one of the digits of his mobile number incorrectly and sent the sum to another man instead.

When the recipient, an officer with the National Environment Agency (NEA), saw that he had received the money, he also saw messages from the sender pleading with him to return the sum, but ignored him.

Instead, he withdrew the entire sum that same day.

For one count of dishonest misappropriation, 59-year-old Singaporean Cho Joon Chin was fined S$5,000 by a court on Wednesday (Jul 17).

The court heard that the victim, a 51-year-old Singaporean man surnamed Tan, wanted to transfer S$20,000 from his DBS corporate account to another account linked to his mobile number on Jun 22, 2021.

Mr Tan's mobile number differed from Cho's by one digit.

He mistakenly transferred the sum to Cho, whom he did not know, instead.

However, once he realised his mistake, Mr Tan sent seven messages to Cho between about 2am and 10.30am, telling Cho about the erroneous transfer and requesting that Cho transfer the funds back to him.

Cho did not reply. He read Mr Tan's messages but ignored them. The money had been sent to his UOB bank account, and he went to a UOB branch in Punggol that same day and withdrew the entire sum.

The prosecutor said Cho knew that the cash did not belong to him, but he had no intention to return it nor to surrender it to authorities.

Mr Tan reported the incident to DBS on Jun 24, 2021, saying he had made an erroneous PayNow transfer and asked the bank to help him reverse the transaction.

On Jul 22, 2021, DBS informed Mr Tan that their attempts to recover the sum had been unsuccessful.

Mr Tan lodged a police report in September 2021.

The police interviewed Cho in November 2021. Cho said he had used the money on his personal investments and asked for more time to return the cash to Mr Tan.

In December 2021, Cho made partial restitution of S$14,000 to Mr Tan and asked for more time to return the rest.

However, later that same month, Cho told the police that the money had been from the sale of his Rolex watch to a man called Mr Chew. He claimed that he had received the money via PayNow to his mobile phone number.

Cho stated that he was actually entitled to the cash, as it came from a legitimate sale of his property, and said he would not be returning the remaining S$6,000 to Mr Tan.

On Dec 31, 2021, Cho lodged an online police report stating that he had sold his Rolex watch to a Mr Chew.

However, when the police investigated his claims, they could not verify the sale nor confirm the identity of Mr Chew as Cho was unable to provide any evidence of Mr Chew's identity or give any corroborative evidence that he had sold the Rolex.

Cho eventually agreed to return the balance sum to Mr Tan and did so in January this year.

The prosecution sought a fine and left the quantum to the court.

MITIGATION

Defence lawyer Steven John Lam of Templars Law asked for a non-jail sentence for his client, who works as an NEA officer.

He said Cho has a child and his wife has end-stage cancer of multiple organs.

Mr Lam said Cho is paying for all the expenses, and this is his first brush with the law.

"He is remorseful. It is really out of character, and I can say this because I know the accused personally," said Mr Lam.

He said Cho was recognised for his contributions during the COVID-19 pandemic and has made full restitution.

He asked for an instalment plan to pay any fine, saying Cho has only S$2,000 on him and can only afford S$500 a month in payment.

"His take-home salary is about S$2,200, so S$500 is as much as he can squeeze out a month," said the lawyer.

For dishonest misappropriation, Cho could have been jailed for up to two years, fined, or both.