SINGAPORE: A 75-year-old woman opened a bank account on behalf of his boyfriend. This account was later used to receive around S$260,000 (RM904,636) from suspicious sources. The elderly woman met her “online boyfriend” through WhatsApp.
Kang Pue Hua also had accounts at several other banks. She later lied to the police and claimed to have lost her ATM card linked to one of the banks.
She had given it to her “boyfriend”, “John Lee Marina”, whose true identity remains unknown.
Woman Pleads Guilty
On May 29, Kang pleaded guilty to deceiving the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) into believing she was the sole owner of her account at the bank.
She also pleaded guilty to a second charge: committing an act likely to obstruct justice by lying to a police officer.
How It Started?
Sometime before December 2021, Kang met John, who claimed to be a Singaporean and had lived in the United States for many years before returning home. He said that he worked on a ship.
He asked his girlfriend to open a bank account on his behalf to which she agreed and went to an ICBC branch in Ang Mo Kio on December 24, 2021.
Kang said she would have sole control of the account in the application form.
“The accused knew this fact to be false. The accused’s intention was to intentionally induce ICBC into opening a bank account for her. She would then allow John to control (it),” Deputy Public Prosecutor Ng Jun Kai told the court.
After opening the account, Kang arranged for an ATM card linked to it to be mailed to John. Further, she sent him the PIN through WhatsApp.
From December 27, 2021 to February 25, 2022, unknown third parties used the account for transactions, including nearly S$260,000 (RM904,636) in incoming transfers deemed suspicious.
Kang also had an account at OCBC Bank, the court documents revealed.
On January 3, 2022, a person named Ms Goh filed a police report, claiming that she transferred S$10,300 (RM35,838) to Kang’s OCBC account following the instructions of a man named “Kelvin Lin”.
Reasons Behind The Transactions Remain Unknown
The reasons for the transaction were not clear in court documents.
On March 16, 2022, Kang went to the Bishan Police Center and lied in her statement saying that she had lost her OCBC ATM card when in fact she had given it to John.
DPP Ng said: “She had discussed… with John prior to March 16, 2022, and decided to put forward a false story in order to conceal the fact that she had… given him the ATM card and PIN.”
Kang’s mitigation and sentencing will take place in July.
Image credits: ST
