Ex-beauty contestant jailed for using friends' card details to shop online
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Ashley Rita Wong Kai Lin, 27, was sentenced to six weeks' jail. She had spent $2,000 using her friends' debit card details.
Follow topic:
A former Miss Universe Singapore contestant who memorised her friends' debit card details to spend $2,000 online was yesterday sentenced to six weeks' jail.
Ashley Rita Wong Kai Lin, 27, had pleaded guilty in December last year to four counts of accessing materials on a computer without authority. The charges involved about $1,000 in total.
During sentencing, the court also considered 27 other similar charges involving the remaining amount.
The Singaporean, a 2017 Miss Universe Singapore contestant, had committed the offences in 2016 after a break-up with her boyfriend.
One of her victims was Mr Andrew Lim, 28. When she noticed her friend had left his wallet on a table, she removed a debit card and memorised the details before returning it to the wallet.
Between Sept 7 and Sept 24, 2016, she used the information to make online purchases totalling more than $700 on shopping platforms.
After Mr Lim found out about the transactions, he confronted Wong and she admitted to the crime.
The court heard that Wong had earlier memorised the debit card details of another friend, Ms Kimberly Gwee. On July 18, 2016, Wong used the information to pay $264.83 for accommodation at Hotel Clover.
Wong's offences came to light when Ms Gwee, 26, could not make online payments with the debit card as her bank account had insufficient funds.
But there should have been money there as Ms Gwee's father had transferred monies to her before she attempted to make the transactions, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Ivan Khoo.
When she checked her account, she spotted the Hotel Clover charge. Ms Gwee initially suspected her former boyfriend was responsible, but later discovered that it was her friend who did it.
When confronted, Wong admitted she was responsible.
For each charge under the Computer Misuse and Cybersecurity Act, a first-time offender can be jailed for up to two years and fined up to $5,000.
Correction note: An earlier version of the report said one of Wong's friends is named Ms Kimberly Qwee. The Attorney-General's Chambers said it had misstated the name, which should be Ms Kimberly Gwee.
