18-mos, 2 weeks jail & S$30K fine for man who ‘egregiously’ took S$54K from CPF account of friend warded in hospital

SINGAPORE: A 34-year-old man who helped himself to tens of thousands of dollars from the Central Provident Fund (CPF) account of his bedridden friend pleaded guilty to two counts under the Computer Misuse Act.

Singaporean Yu Mingyan had been able to access the account of his friend, a 62-year-old woman who is permanently confined to Gleneagles Hospital due to an illness that has rendered her unable to talk or move. The woman was Yu’s close friend and former work colleague.

To make matters worse, Yu filed a false complaint to the police as “proof” that he had not been the person who stole from the ill woman.

Yu received an 18-month jail sentence and a fine of S$30,000. If he is unable to pay the fine, his jail sentence increases by one month. According to a CNA report, two other charges were taken into consideration for his sentencing.

He stole from his friend’s CPF account

Yu began stealing from his friend in mid-2023, at a time when he had debts. He visited her multiple times in June and July, and was able to guess the passwords to her phone and mobile applications. On three of his visits, he accessed his friend’s CPF account on her phone and moved funds to her bank account, after which he would move the money to his own. He first transferred S$30,000, then S$20,000, and then S$4,000.

When the woman’s niece spotted the transactions, she asked Yu about them. He said he had no idea about them, and then further claimed that his account had also had unauthorised transactions.

He then proceeded to edit a police report that his mother had filed to make it seem like he had lodged an official complaint over the transactions on his account and showed the edited report to his friend’s niece.

However, a few months later, the niece found that Yu could no longer be contacted, and she filed a police report against him in October 2024.

Yu has a history of money troubles. In late 2023, he borrowed S$600 from a loan shark. Because he could not pay back his loan, he agreed to perform bank transfers for the moneylender instead, which he did 16 times. Later, DBS flagged and then closed the account that he opened for this purpose.

CNA added that in July 2024, Yu took S$197 from a petty cash box at Farrer Park Hospital, where he worked.

District Judge Eddy Tham pointed out that Yu had taken advantage of and betrayed his gravely ill friend, calling it “highly egregious” that he had taken money from her CPF account and used it for himself. /TISG

Read also: ‘Father’s comedy of errors,’ S’poreans say about case of boy who stole S$91K from dad’s CPF & insurance to fund fishing & Korea trips