Arrested: Man caught on cam taking tip jar at Jewel Changi eatery

SINGAPORE: A video of a man walking up to the counter of an eatery at Jewel Changi Airport to take the tip jar and nonchalantly walking away was shared on social media this week.

In the clip posted on the @sgfollowsall Instagram page on Dec 2, the man can be seen pushing aside a roped queue poll that had signified that the eatery was closed and its counter unattended. After disengaging the tip and glancing around, he then simply takes it.

“Hey, bro, if you’re gonna steal the tip jar, at least leave the jar behind. Now need to buy a new jar,” reads the video’s text overlay.

Its timestamp says the incident occurred at 11:55 p.m. on Nov 30.

According to the person who shared the clip, the video is from Chow Zan Dessert, who also shared it on their Facebook and Instagram pages earlier this week.

“CAUGHT IN 4K”

“Shoutout to the guy who stole my tip box… without even wearing a mask.

Bro, 2025 already — even thieves also must upgrade la. Don’t you know security cameras are EVERYWHERE? Caught in HD some more,” its caption reads.

Speaking to Mothership, a staff member from the eatery said that the tip jar thief “must be very desperate. He must be aware that there is a tip box there. Sad to see that people are willing to take these kinds of risk(s) to commit this kind of crime.”

They also said that there was less than S$100 in the tip jar, adding that moving forward, the jar will be stored when the dessert shop is closed.

Fortunately, the tip jar snatcher appears to have been caught.

The Singapore Police Force said in a media release on Thursday (Dec 4) that a 21-year-old Singaporean has been arrested for his suspected involvement in several cases of theft in dwellings at the terminals of Changi Airport and Jewel Changi Airport.

The Police were first alerted to the man’s activities on Nov 25 due to a case of theft in a dwelling at an eatery at Changi Airport Terminal 1, where the man had allegedly taken a tip box containing cash the previous day.

Using CCTVs, officers from the Airport Police Division were able to determine the man’s identity, and he was arrested on Dec 4.

“An assortment of currencies, believed to have been stolen, were found on the man and were subsequently seized by the Police.

Further investigations revealed that the man is also believed to be involved in five other similar cases of theft at the terminals of Changi Airport and Jewel Changi Airport,” the statement reads, and according to Mothership, it understands that one of the establishments he victimised is Chow Zan Dessert.

He was scheduled to be charged in court on Friday (Dec 5), the Police added, warning businesses to secure valuables such as tip boxes and cash containers to prevent opportunistic theft. /TISG

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