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SINGAPORE: A teenager exploited a loophole in a mobile app payment system and over the course of a week tricked ComfortDelGro into giving him and others 117 free taxi rides worth S $ 2,600.
The 18-year-old, who cannot be identified under the Children and Adolescents Act because he was under 18 at the time of the crime, admitted the crime on Monday (September 21).
He pleaded guilty to one count of performing a computer function to commit a cheating offense.
The court heard that the teenager, who was 17 at the time, downloaded the ComfortDelGro taxi booking mobile app on October 29 last year and created an account.
You linked your debit card to the NETS Click payment method and booked a ride. Since he had sufficient funds in his bank account for the trip, Comfort approved the taxi reservation.
However, while he waited, he used the same debit card to purchase items at a convenience store, leaving him without sufficient funds to pay for the trip.
He expected to see a negative value in his bank account after the trip, but was surprised to find that the taxi fare had not been deducted.
Suspecting a loophole, he booked another trip through the app using the NETS Click method, before transferring money from his bank account.
Again, the fee was not deducted from your bank account due to insufficient funds. He used this loophole to make a profit, advertising cheap taxi rides in a Telegram group chat called SG Hitch, which offers cheaper taxi rides than those displayed on the ComfortDelGro app.
Taking advantage of the loophole, the teenager took money from his “clients”, but no money was deducted from his account. Instead, ComfortDelGro incurred losses.
By creating several fictitious accounts to take advantage of the loophole, the teenager managed to book a total of 117 taxi rides for himself, his friends and his “clients.”
ComfortDelGro incurred a loss of S $ 2,598.60 for the rides and the teen has not made any restitution, Assistant District Attorney Bjorn Tan said.
The taxi company filed a police report on October 29, 2019, after its bank alerted it to fraudulent transactions.
After submitting the report, ComfortDelGro conducted internal verifications and discovered that the fraudulent transactions were linked to taxi bookings made through its mobile booking app.
In response to CNA’s inquiries, Comfort DelGro Group Corporate Communications Director Tammy Tan said NETS provided assistance in the investigation after the company informed her.
“We were later informed by the police that the cardholder had been arrested. Since then, we have taken further steps to prevent a repeat of the incident,” added Ms Tan.
The judge requested reports to assess the defendant’s suitability for parole and reformatory training.
He will return to court for sentencing on September 29. For his computer crime, he could be imprisoned for up to 10 years, fined up to S $ 50,000, or both.
CNA has contacted ComfortDelGro for more information.
