2 men allegedly linked to overseas crime syndicate charged with cheating
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The police said the men had purchased luxury goods from various boutiques at Marina Bay Sands and Ngee Ann City, with items such as shoes and handbags seized.
PHOTO: SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
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SINGAPORE – Two men allegedly linked to an overseas crime syndicate are accused of working together to use a contactless payment method involving stolen credit card details to buy luxury items from multiple boutiques in Singapore.
Lu Min-Da, 25, and Lu You-Ting, 27, who are both Taiwanese, were each handed a cheating charge on April 4.
According to court documents, they were at a Louis Vuitton store at Marina Bay Sands (MBS) on April 2 when they allegedly used details linked to a Mastercard to buy a pair of shoes and a belt worth $2,575 in total.
The police said in an earlier statement that the pair had arrived in Singapore on April 1.
Without revealing details, the police added that the next day, officers received a call regarding a suspicious credit card transaction made at a luxury retail store.
Officers from the Commercial Affairs Department as well as the Central, Tanglin and Clementi police divisions then conducted a joint operation.
Lu Min-Da and Lu You-Ting were arrested later on April 2.
A police spokesperson said that the men had purchased luxury goods from various boutiques at MBS and Ngee Ann City shopping centre, adding: “Items such as shoes, handbags, wallets and earrings, and four mobile phones were recovered and seized.”
The case will be mentioned again in court on April 11.
If convicted of cheating, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.
Shaffiq Alkhatib is The Straits Times’ court correspondent, covering mainly criminal cases heard at the State Courts.
