By Channel NewsAsia, Updated: 16/07/2013
Two Malaysians jailed for using counterfeit cards to buy luxury goods
SINGAPORE: Two Malaysians were sentenced to 54 months' jail each for attempting to use counterfeit credit cards to buy luxury goods at Marina Bay Sands earlier this year.
According to court documents, the two men - Soh Kien Wen, 32, and Goh Boon Ong, 29, were part of a counterfeit credit card syndicate based in Malaysia.
Both men had been promised a 10 per cent commission on the total price of items they successfully managed to purchase using the counterfeit credit cards issued to them.
On March 27, both men met a person known as "Derrick" in a coffeeshop in Kuala Lumpur who gave them 29 counterfeit credit cards.
On March 31, they arrived in Singapore and were told to head to Marina Bay Sands where they were given specific instructions on where and what to purchase using the cards.
Among the items they tried to buy were two Omega watches valued at more than S$10,000 each, two Franck Muller watches worth a total of S$71,600 as well as two handbags and a wallet worth some S$9,000 from Bottega Veneta.
However, the transactions were declined when they tried to pay using the counterfeit credit cards at the various boutiques.
Acting on information they had received, police arrested the men while they were on their shopping spree and found the counterfeit cards in their possession.
In mitigation, Goh had said he was remorseful, while Soh said he had wanted to relieve the financial burden on his family and have a more stable life.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Hon Yi had noted that the aggravating factors in this case were that theirs was a syndicated offence, that both were in it for the commission, and that they had tried to buy goods that were extremely expensive.
- CNA/fa
