Jail for maid who went on shopping spree after taking elderly woman's credit card
A maid took an elderly woman's credit card while working for the victim's household and unlawfully used it to pay for goods and cash top-ups totalling nearly $13,700.
Ririn Ria Pusvita Sari duped a Shell petrol station in Braddell Road and e-commerce site Shopee Singapore into believing she was the rightful owner of the card.
On Friday (May 6), the 28-year-old Indonesian woman was sentenced to 10 months' jail after she pleaded guilty to a cheating charge.
Four theft charges were considered during sentencing.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Benjamin Samynathan said that Ririn had committed the crime for personal gain, adding: "She used the victim's monies to benefit herself by buying expensive mobile phones, clothes and underwear for herself... The accused exploited the relationship of trust between her and the victim's household."
Ririn was working for the 85-year-old woman and her family in a house near Braddell Road when she committed the offences.
The court heard that she had taken the victim's OCBC Bank credit card after spotting it on a table last August.
Ririn then created two Shopee accounts under her own mobile phone number and another belonging to the victim.
To create a Shopee account under the victim's mobile phone, Ririn used the elderly woman's unattended device to obtain the necessary one-time passwords.
The maid added the victim's credit card as a payment method for both of the Shopee accounts.
She later cheated the petrol station and Shopee Singapore on 26 occasions between August and September last year.
Her offences came to light on Sept 13 when the victim saw multiple unauthorised transactions made on her credit card even though she had not used it since February that year.
She told her 32-year-old granddaughter about the matter and the younger woman alerted the bank.
The victim also tried looking for the card but could not find it. Her granddaughter then made a police report on Sept 14.
Ririn was caught after police raided the victim's house three days later and found all the items she had bought from Shopee.
She has made no restitution.
For cheating, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.
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