Man admits he was part of plan to commit snatch theft of Rolex watch worth nearly $86,000

SINGAPORE – A man has admitted in a district court that he was part of a plan to commit the snatch theft of a Rolex Daytona John Mayer watch worth $85,800.

Dominic Chow Yee had obtained illicit accounts on online marketplace Carousell for his friend to look for sellers of luxury watches.

His friend, Darrel Chen Yu Zhi, 23, later made arrangements for a third person, a 17-year-old boy, to carry out the snatch theft in May 2025.

The teenager was caught following a chase, and the luxury timepiece was recovered soon after.

On March 30, Chow, 28, pleaded guilty to abetting Chen in committing the snatch theft. Chow will be sentenced in May.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Hidayat Amir said Chow helped Chen “in the hope that, if the snatch theft were to be carried out, (Chen) would be able to settle some of the debt he owed to (Chow).”

Chow also pleaded guilty to one count of misusing a computer system.

The teenager, identified in court documents as C1, cannot be named as those below 18 are protected under the Children and Young Persons Act.

Court documents did not disclose if Chen had been dealt with earlier, but he and Chow have been friends since 2023. Both men are Singaporeans.

In May 2025, Chen contacted Chow, telling him that he wanted to commit snatch theft.

Court documents stated that Chen was facing criminal charges for undisclosed offences at the time, and he wanted to carry out the snatch theft before escaping to Malaysia.

DPP Hidayat said: “(The plan) involved him looking for sellers of luxury watches or gold chains on Carousell and deceiving them into believing that he was an interested buyer.

“At the meet-up, (Chen) would arrange for his other co-conspirators to pretend to be the buyer and carry out a snatch-and-run of the seller’s item.”

Chow obtained the login details of three Carousell accounts for Chen, who promised to give him $500 per account.

Chow got the details from a Telegram chat group after agreeing to pay the sellers between $200 and $300 per account.

After that, he changed the login details and relinquished the accounts to Chen.

In the end, Chen did not make any payments to Chow, who also failed to pay the sellers.

On May 26, 2025, the seller of the Rolex watch and Chen agreed to meet at a coffee shop in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 8 at 3pm that day.

When the victim asked Chen for his phone number, Chen handed him Chow’s number instead.

Chow later sent the victim a message to re-confirm the meeting.

Chen also made arrangements for C1 to meet the seller, said the DPP, adding that Chow “did not know the identity of C1 and that (Chen) had arranged for C1 to be the one carrying out the snatch theft”.

At around 3pm, the victim went to the coffee shop with a box containing the watch.

Minutes later, C1 came forward and told him that he wanted to inspect the timepiece.

The victim then placed the watch back inside the box after the teenager looked at it

C1 suddenly grabbed the box and ran away. The victim, who chased after him, then told several members of the public to help him.

The group managed to apprehend C1 a few minutes later and the victim alerted the police.

Officers arrested the teenager and Chow was later caught in August 2025.

Chow, who is in remand, is expected to be sentenced on May 7.