Two charged with shoplifting at Sheng Siong; both identified through facial recognition tech
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Catherine Tan Li Eng, 50, (left) and Leong Seek Yuen, 45, were allegedly identified through the supermarket chain’s facial recognition CCTV technology.
ST PHOTOS: KELVIN CHNG
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- Catherine Tan Li Eng and Leong Seek Yuen face theft charges after allegedly shoplifting at different Sheng Siong supermarkets.
- Tan allegedly stole around $556 worth of wine, while Leong is accused of stealing about $90 of goods.
- Sheng Siong uses facial recognition since April 2024.
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SINGAPORE – Two women accused of shoplifting at different Sheng Siong outlets in unrelated incidents were each handed a theft charge on Nov 20.
Catherine Tan Li Eng, 50, and Leong Seek Yuen, 45, were said to have been identified through the supermarket chain’s facial recognition CCTV technology
In a statement on Nov 19, the police said Tan allegedly stole three bottles of red wine worth around $86 from a Sheng Siong outlet in Punggol Central on Sept 11.
A store manager immediately recognised her following an alert from the facial recognition CCTV technology.
The police added that Tan was then detained while she was attempting to leave without paying. She was arrested soon after.
A police spokesperson said: “Further investigations revealed that the woman was also allegedly involved in earlier cases of shop theft at the same outlet.”
Court documents stated that Tan allegedly stole 19 bottles of red wine worth nearly $556 in total from the outlet between Sept 2 and 11.
In an unrelated case, Leong is said to have stolen items including drinks and meat items worth around $90 in total from a Sheng Siong outlet in Sin Ming Avenue, near Upper Thomson Road, between May 27 and Aug 12.
The police said that one of the supermarket’s store managers detained her on Oct 1 following an alert from its facial recognition technology.
Tan and Leong were among multiple people who were handed shoplifting charges on Nov 20.
One of them, Christina Jiyoon Han, 24, is accused of stealing a Labubu doll worth $250 from a shop at Plaza Singapura shopping centre in Orchard Road on April 21.
Tan’s case will be mentioned again in court in December, while the cases involving Leong and Han have been adjourned to January.
The first six months of 2025 saw an increase in shop theft incidents
The police had earlier said that compared with other major retailers, Cold Storage and Sheng Siong reported a higher average number of shop theft cases per outlet.
They also had the highest increases in shop theft cases compared with the same period in 2024.
The police said in August that the increase at Sheng Siong is likely due to the use of its facial recognition technology to identify offenders.
The supermarket chain added the technology to its security camera system in April 2024 to better identify and catch shoplifters.
Suspects are typically identified only after they leave the store with unpaid items.
The staff trawl through security footage and identify the culprit, whose face is then flagged in the system.
When that person visits a Sheng Siong outlet again, the system alerts store managers. The staff monitor the suspects and stop them if they try to shoplift again.
Suspects’ faces are removed from the system only after they are arrested.
