SINGAPORE: A teenage girl who conspired to deceive food delivery riders into thinking that S$415 worth of bills had been paid for received a sentence of 18 months of probation and 80 hours of community service on Tuesday (June 18).
Additionally, if necessary, she will be required to attend a smoking cessation program. She entered guilty pleas for one charge of engaging in a conspiracy to extort someone and another for conspiring to use a forged picture to cheat a rider.
Two other charges similar to the latter were considered in her sentencing.
The teen’s male co-accused edited PayNow screenshots and showed them to the delivery riders, leading the riders to believe that payments had been made when the duo had not forked over any money.
Since she was still a minor at the time of the offences, the name of the teenage girl has not been made public. She has since turned 18.
The incident occurred before July last year, when the teen’s friend edited PayNow screen grabs, saying this had worked in the past.
The two, along with two of their friends, placed an order worth S$271 from Din Tai Fung via the teen’s Foodpanda account, choosing cash as the mode of payment.
She and her co-accused went to collect the food from the delivery rider, with the young man telling the rider he had no cash and would pay via PayNow.
The rider agreed to this, but since he did not know how to receive transactions, he asked that the payment be sent through his wife’s PayNow account.
The male accomplice then edited a screenshot to make it look like he had sent payment to her account, only to find out later that his wife never got the money.
CNA reported that the girl also acknowledged having conspired with her male friend and two others to extort S$500 from another man whom they said they would report to the police for allegedly trying to obtain physically intimate favours from an underage girl.
The man did not fall for their schemes but called the police on the group.
The girl is not the mastermind in their illicit activities, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Suriya Prakash, who pointed to the co-accused as the main plotter. In February, he received a sentence of 24 months’ probation.
A report to determine the girl’s suitability for probation and reformative training has been called for by the prosecutor.
The girl has already paid back the two other food delivery riders, around S$144, whom she had deceived in the same way, which has been perceived as a sign of remorse.
But she could not repay the rider, for whom she owed S$271. Her parents have given S$5,000 for her bond to ensure good behaviour while she is on probation. /TISG
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