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SINGAPORE: A man who was roped into a scheme to deceive tech companies into delivering laptops for free using a PayPal glitch recruited four others into it but later felt guilty and lodged a police report.<\/p>\n
He also made restitution not just for himself but for the friends he had recruited into the fraudulent scheme.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Wee Jianwei, a 29-year-old Singaporean, was given a short detention order of 14 days on Tuesday (Jun 23). He will also have to perform 70 hours of community service within a year.<\/p>\n
A short detention order is a community sentence which results in no criminal record and works as a deterrent by allowing an offender to experience prison life.<\/p>\n
Wee pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to deceive Lenovo, with another two charges taken into consideration.<\/p>\n
The case started with 31-year-old co-accused Calvin Fong Jun Jie, who contacted his primary school friend Alden Low Yoong Theng, also 31 in late 2019.<\/p>\n
Fong said he had an opportunity to make money involving the purchasing of laptops. He said the money would eventually be returned to Low after the laptops were delivered.<\/p>\n
Fong showed Low how this worked by using a PayPal account to pay for laptops. The payment was deducted from Low’s bank account, but Fong assured him the money would be refunded within a week.<\/p>\n
The laptops were delivered to Low’s address. Fong then collected his laptops and paid Low about 40 per cent of the purchase amount as “commission”.<\/p>\n
Low later checked his bank account and found that the money he had paid for the laptops had indeed been refunded.<\/p>\n
Sometime in February 2020, Low roped Wee into this scheme. They had served in the army together and were friends.<\/p>\n
Low explained that participants would link their bank account to their PayPal account, and leave only S$100 (US$77) in their bank account. Low would then transfer money into the account to buy the laptops.<\/p>\n
Fong would control the participant’s laptop remotely and make the order for laptops using the PayPal account.<\/p>\n
The laptops would be physically delivered to the participants and collected by Fong.<\/p>\n
As there was a glitch in the PayPal system, money paid to the laptop vendor would automatically be credited back into the participants’ PayPal accounts. They would then return the money and receive a commission.<\/p>\n
Low told Wee that he could earn more money by recruiting others, at S$100 per recruit.<\/p>\n
Wee agreed to take part. In March 2020, Fong directed Low to transfer about S$6,701 to Wee’s account to fund the purchase.<\/p>\n
Fong then used software to remotely control Wee’s laptop and bought three Lenovo laptops totalling S$6,701.40 using Wee’s PayPal account.<\/p>\n
Since Wee was serving National Service and could not receive deliveries, he gave his mother’s office address as the delivery address and the laptops were delivered a few days later.<\/p>\n
Fong then collected the devices and paid Wee S$670 in commission.<\/p>\n
Lenovo suffered wrongful loss in delivering the laptops but losing the payment.<\/p>\n
Wee recruited four of his friends to join in the scheme, instructing them to create PayPal accounts and download software. He earned S$400 for recruiting them.<\/p>\n
In total, laptops worth over S$32,000 were delivered because of the new recruits, save for the fourth man who ultimately did not take part.<\/p>\n
Wee also bought two Microsoft laptops worth over S$3,900 in May 2020 at Fong’s request using the same glitch.<\/p>\n
Subsequently, PayPal asked Wee to file a police report to process a refund.<\/p>\n
Wee lodged an electronic police report in May 2020 lying that two laptops worth about S$4,000 were missing from his delivery package.<\/p>\n
Months later in February 2021, Wee lodged a genuine police report admitting to his part in the fraud. He said he did so as he felt guilty.<\/p>\n
He later made full restitution of S$6,701 to Lenovo and S$3,938.40 to Microsoft.<\/p>\n
The prosecution said these offences are serious, but the facts of this case are exceptional.<\/p>\n
Deputy Public Prosecutor Adelle Tai sought a 14-day short detention order and asked for a report assessing Wee’s suitability for a community service order.<\/p>\n
She noted the delay in prosecution of about five years that could not be attributed to Wee, as well as his genuine remorse by voluntarily lodging a police report incriminating himself.<\/p>\n
If not for his report, the offences would not have come to light, she said.<\/p>\n
Ms Tai added that Wee had made restitution for his own offences and also made restitution of about S$9,739 for the outstanding sum that his recruits had failed to repay.<\/p>\n
In total, Wee made restitution of about S$20,000 such that Microsoft and Lenovo suffered no financial loss as a result of the offences.<\/p>\n
For conspiring to cheat, he could have been jailed for up to three years, fined, or both.<\/p>\n
Fong is set to plead guilty next month, while Low has pleaded guilty and is set to be sentenced next month.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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