Former ICA officer caught taking cash cards left behind by travellers

SINGAPORE: A former female immigration inspector was discovered taking cash cards left by travellers after they had paid for their flight tickets. Her crime was exposed when one of the victims reported the loss. 

The 38-year-old suspect is now serving her punishment in jail and faces three charges. She has pleaded guilty to one charge, and the remaining charges will be taken into consideration when the court sentences her.

The suspect was a chief inspector of the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority during the crime, and was responsible for checking the information of travellers entering and leaving the country at designated checkpoint counters. The investigations revealed that when travellers’ cars pass through the Tuas Checkpoint, they need to pay tolls and drivers must insert cash cards into a reader to pay. However, drivers sometimes forget to retrieve their cash cards after paying. 

When this happens, the immigration officers must hand over these cash cards to the Land Transportation Authority (LTA) after their shifts. The LTA will then check the balance, print a receipt for record-keeping, and then store them for safekeeping. 

Last year, a man forgot to retrieve his cash card after passing through customs and the on-duty inspector removed the card from the reader and placed it on a table. The cash card was believed to still have approximately $50. When the suspect then arrived and took over her shift, she noticed the cash card on the table, pushed it aside and covered it with her backpack. After her colleague’s shift ended, she took the card for herself. 

The suspect’s illegal activity was uncovered when another cash card owner reported the card lost, with a balance of $30. Relevant authorities discovered that the suspect possessed the cash card and others that belonged to different owners. The authorities then reported the incident to the police. 

A cash card is a type of electronic card that holds money for making different payments. It can serve as a bank debit card, ATM card, prepaid card, gift card, or payroll card. Furthermore, unlike credit cards, which let you buy things by borrowing money, cash cards use the money that an individual already owns.