6 men arrested for payment card fraud involving ride-hailing company

Six men, aged between 16 and 55, have been arrested for payment card fraud in two separate cases involving a ride-hailing firm in Singapore, said police in a statement on Thursday (Sep 5).

In the first case, the police received a report on May 12 about how a ride-hailing firm was unable to receive payments from some users’ accounts as they had used stolen credit card details to book rides.

Preliminary investigations revealed that six men are believed to be involved in syndicated payment card fraud.

Two of them, aged 53 and 55, are believed to have used their debit cards for payment card fraud.

Through investigations, officers from the Commercial Affairs Department established the identities of five men and arrested them between June 13 and Sep 4.

A 35-year-old man is also assisting with investigations.

Seven mobile phones, four bank cards, two prepaid cards and several SIM cards were seized as case exhibits.

In the second case, the police received information on Sep 3 that an 18-year-old man had defrauded the same ride-hailing firm.

According to preliminary investigations, the man is believed to have created several user accounts with the firm using prepaid cards with insufficient funds to book rides.

He is believed to have solicited ride services via these user accounts to accumulate more than $9,000 from other customers of the ride-hailing firm.

Through investigations, officers from the Commercial Affairs Department arrested him on Sep 4.

Two mobile phones, two bank cards and several SIM cards were seized as case exhibits.

Investigations are ongoing.

Anyone who is convicted of cheating shall be punished with a jail term of up to 10 years and a fine.

"The police take a serious view of anyone involved in criminal activities and will continue to take tough enforcement action against those found breaking the law," they added in their statement.