NTUC Health befriender stole S$18,000 in government payouts from 84-year-old woman, gets jail

SINGAPORE: A woman was jailed 10 months on Tuesday (Apr 19) for stealing government payouts from a senior citizen she was assigned to as an NTUC Health befriender.

Choo Lay Ping, 48, pleaded guilty to one charge of cheating, with another charge considered for sentencing.

The court heard that Choo was employed by NTUC Health in 2019 and assigned five senior citizens to visit on a weekly basis. She was paid S$7 for each visit.

The visits typically lasted half an hour and were for befrienders to assess and record the senior citizens' moods, living conditions and medications management.

Befrienders were also to record signs of worsening conditions, such as falls, and other requests such as for meals or financial help.

Sometime in mid-2020, Choo was assigned to be the befriender of the victim, an 84-year-old woman. She visited the elderly woman weekly.

On Oct 9, 2020, the victim asked Choo to buy medicine from a pharmacy as she felt pain in her leg. She gave Choo her ATM card and personal identification number (PIN) to pay for the medicine.

At the ATM machine, Choo realised the victim had about S$30,000 in the account. She withdrew S$1,000.

Returning with the medicine, Choo lied to the victim that she had only withdrawn S$50 and handed the victim the change of about S$20. She pocketed the remaining S$950.

During the befriender visits, Choo read the victim's letters to her. From these, she learnt that the victim was eligible for government payouts and conceived a plan to cheat her of the money.

On each visit between March and September 2021, she would ask the victim for her ATM card and PIN by pretending that she was helping to check if the government payout had been credited.

She would withdraw the money, and later lie to the victim that the government payout had not been credited.

Using this method, she made unauthorised ATM withdrawals amounting to more than S$18,000 from the victim's bank account on 26 occasions.

Choo used the money to pay for personal expenses such as utilities, bills, her online shopping and her children's pocket money.

The offences came to light when the victim updated her bank book at the ATM and realised that there had been unauthorised withdrawals. She made a police report with her son's help.

Choo has not made restitution to the victim to this date, according to the prosecution.

Those found guilty of cheating can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.