[ad_1]
SINGAPORE: A contestant in Miss Universe Singapore 2017 was sentenced to six weeks in jail on Thursday (February 11) for using her friends’ debit card details to make unauthorized purchases after memorizing them.
Ashley Rita Wong Kai Lin, a 27-year-old arcade commentator, pleaded guilty in December to four counts under the Cybersecurity and Computer Misuse Act, with 27 other counts being considered for sentencing.
In 2016, he targeted two friends by memorizing their debit card details when they didn’t know and then using the information to shop online. A third victim was included in a charge taken into consideration.
She had dated the first victim, a 28-year-old man, after a breakup with her boyfriend. One day while he was away, the victim left his wallet on the table as he made his way to the bathroom, and Wong took out his debit card to memorize his details.
Subsequently, the victim discovered unauthorized transactions on his card. He had used it more than 20 times between August and September 2016 to purchase items such as S $ 304 worth tickets, S $ 230 worth of Lazada purchases, and S $ 196 worth of items at a retail store. fashion online.
The victim was able to dispute one of the transactions with his bank and was reimbursed in full, while Wong returned the money from the other transactions.
The second victim was a 26-year-old friend of Wong’s. When he tried to make payments online with his debit card in July 2016, the victim realized that there were insufficient funds in his bank account, despite the fact that his father had just transferred around S $ 1,000 to the account.
The victim checked and saw two charges on her card, including S $ 264 for a stay at the Clover Hotel. At first, she was suspicious of her ex-boyfriend and told Wong of her suspicions. However, when he found out that Wong was accused of using the card details of others, he confronted Wong, who admitted to memorizing the details of the victim’s card for his own use.
The victim contested the transaction with DBS bank and was fully reimbursed, and the bank recouped its losses from the Clover Hotel. Wong has reimbursed the hotel S $ 264.
Deputy Prosecutor Cheng You Duen called for at least two months in jail for Wong, saying that the crimes related to credit cards undermine the use of credit cards as a form of payment and that violators must expect severe sentences.
Cheng also said that Wong demonstrated an element of planning and premeditation, as he would wait for victims to leave their cards unattended before struggling to memorize the details.
The details included more than 10 digits, as well as the expiration date and CVC number on the cards, and there were three victims in total over three months.
Refuting a defense point, Cheng said the investigations did not show evidence that the three victims had forgiven Wong and instead one of them had cut off contact with her at the time the statements were taken from the women. victims.
He stressed that the defense psychiatry expert himself could not conclude that Wong suffered from a condition at the time of the crime. A mandatory treatment order report did not show a contributory link to any crime disorder, much less a causal link, Cheng said.
Defense attorney Christine Low, who was named only at the sentencing stage, said her client had shown genuine remorse early on and pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.
The breach of trust between friends was not to the same degree as that shown in another similar case, he said, adding that Wong’s crimes required “minimal criminal experience” as she “simply memorized the details of the card.”
The judge said he had considered all factors, including the fact that Wong had no prior convictions and has made the largest possible restitution, but said deterrence remains the key consideration.
For each count of unauthorized access to computer equipment, Wong could have been jailed for up to two years, fined up to S $ 5,000, or both.
