SINGAPORE - A maid waited for her employer's elderly wife to fall asleep or go and watch television then went to steal her ATM card.

Eka Nur Indah used it on dozens of occasions to withdraw more than $40,000 which she spent on beauty treatments, mobile phones and jewellery before she was found out by her employer's son.

The 26-year-old Indonesian was jailed for a year on Friday (June 1) after pleading guilty to 18 theft charges involving $18,000.

Fifty-three other charges - mainly for theft - involving the remaining amount were taken into consideration during sentencing.

The court heard that Eka had discovered that her employer's 76-year-old wife had written the personal identification number for her ATM card in a notebook.

The Indonesian then hatched a plan to use the card to withdraw cash and make unauthorised Nets purchases.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Marshall Lim said: "The accused knew that the victim kept her ATM card in her bag which is kept by her bedside."

Eka started her crime spree on June 9 last year when she took the ATM card from the woman's bag in her Yishun flat.

She then withdrew $1,900 in cash from a nearby ATM machine before returning the card.

From then until July 18 last year, she stole the elderly woman's card 21 more times.

Eka withdrew between $300 and $1,000 in each transaction, the court heard, and remitted some of the money home.

Her crimes came to light when her employer's son was performing some fund transfers using his mother's account and realised that money had been withdrawn from it on a regular basis.

The 49-year-old man checked with his mother and confirmed that she did not make the withdrawals. He lodged a police report on July 18.

Eka has not made any restitution.