Man bought $18,500 worth of counterfeit notes from Shopee, used $1k for cough syrup and sleeping pills

Wong Shiying
The Straits Times
Mar 4, 2024

After a doctor refused to prescribe him cough syrup, a 34-year-old man bought it illegally from an online seller using a counterfeit $1,000 note in 2022.

Khalid Abdullah then tried to exchange six pieces of counterfeit $1,000 Singapore dollar notes for foreign currency notes at a DBS Bank branch in Woodlands but was arrested by the police.

He was found with nearly $18,500 worth of counterfeit notes in his possession, which he admitted to buying online from Shopee.

On March 4, 2024, Khalid pleaded guilty to three charges – one under the Protection from Harassment Act (Poha), one for using a counterfeit note and one for possessing counterfeit notes.

The court heard that in March 2022, the accused demanded a doctor at Woodlands Polyclinic prescribe him four bottles of sedative cough syrup.

When his demands were turned down, Khalid turned aggressive. The polyclinic’s deputy head doctor was called in, and he tried to explain to Khalid that they cannot prescribe him the cough syrup.

Khalid then used abusive words on the deputy head doctor and charged at him, saying: “I am not going to leave, what are you going to do?”

The accused also grabbed the victim’s shirt while shouting at him.

In October 2022, Khalid used a counterfeit $1,000 note to pay for $400 worth of cough mixture and sleeping pills from an unauthorised online seller. He was given $600 in change.

Khalid was arrested a month later.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Eugene Lau sought a jail term of three to five years and a fine of between $3,000 and $5,000 for Khalid.

He said: “Counterfeiting is a very serious offence that undermines the economy and damages public confidence in Singapore’s monetary system. The usual range of sentences is between three and five years’ imprisonment per charge.”

On the Poha offence, the prosecutor said Khalid was persistent in his unruly behaviour towards the victim and used criminal force against him.

Khalid is set to be sentenced on April 2.