Dressed in designer wear, Shahna Liu Mei Li, 39, would breeze into Marina Bay Sands Hotel pretending to be a guest. But her real intention was to steal and cheat.

She would filch the credit cards of patrons at the swimming pool and use these to splurge on herself at nearby boutiques. The favourite purchases of the 39-year-old Indonesian included sunglasses, earrings, shoes and clothes.

Assistant Public Prosecutor Chew Xin Ying said that the total amount Liu cheated or tried to cheat on the three occasions she went to the hotel between Sept 28 and Jan 28 came up to $29,230.

Liu was sentenced yesterday to a year and eight months in jail for 31 counts of stealing, cheating, and attempted cheating, and one count of lying to the police. She had pleaded guilty to all the charges.

A district court heard that the unemployed woman would come to Singapore regularly on a social visit pass.

Her crime spree started on Sept 28 last year. Then, she got away with two credit cards belonging to a Romanian hotel guest swimming in the hotel's pool at night.

On Nov 17, she stole four credit cards from a Filipino national. She returned to the hotel on Jan 28 and stole a credit card from a Japanese tourist staying at the hotel.