Social worker admits to taking S$47,000 from nursing home residents to pay off debts
Instead of keeping the bank cards of two nursing home residents safe, medical social worker Joney Song Siang Siang took their money to repay loansharks she had gotten into debt with.
SINGAPORE — Instead of keeping the bank cards of two nursing home residents safe, a medical social worker took their money to repay loansharks she had gotten into debt with.
Joney Song Siang Siang, 38, resigned from her position at Grace Lodge Nursing Home in Sengkang before her crimes were discovered.
She pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal breach of trust on Friday (May 31), and is set to be sentenced on June 18. She remains out on S$15,000 bail.
The court heard that Song worked at the nursing home from June 1, 2017 to August 11, 2017. As part of her job, she was entrusted with her two elderly victims’ valuables, including their ATM cards.
She persuaded the two residents to activate the cards and secretly noted down their respective Personal Identification Numbers, while accompanying them during the activation process.
On several occasions in July 2017, she took the cards, then either withdrew or transferred money from their bank accounts to hers or other individuals’ at numerous ATMs around Singapore.
The other people she transferred money to were also debtors of unlicensed moneylenders from whom she had taken various loans.
From 80-year-old Han Lee Fong’s account, Song siphoned S$6,672 over 23 transfers and withdrawals.
From 77-year-old Ho Park Tong’s account, she took S$40,688 over 15 days. She made 118 transactions and withdrawals in total.
She then discarded the bank cards, after taking S$47,360.13 in total from the two men.
She resigned from her job on Aug 11, 2017, and about five months passed before her offences came to light.
Sometime in January 2018, the employee who took over her position checked the victims’ bank accounts and noticed the suspicious activity.
Song has made partial restitution of S$25,900 to her victims.
For each count of criminal breach of trust, she could be jailed up to seven years and fined.
