Man got free laptops using PayPal glitch but lodged police report out of guilt, gets detention order
After earning some money from the scheme and recruiting four friends into it, he felt guilty and lodged a police report incriminating himself.
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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.
He also made restitution not just for himself but for the friends he had recruited into the fraudulent scheme.
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.
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.
Wee pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to deceive Lenovo, with another two charges taken into consideration.
THE CASE
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.
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.
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.
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”.
Low later checked his bank account and found that the money he had paid for the laptops had indeed been refunded.
Sometime in February 2020, Low roped Wee into this scheme. They had served in the army together and were friends.
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.
Fong would control the participant’s laptop remotely and make the order for laptops using the PayPal account.
The laptops would be physically delivered to the participants and collected by Fong.
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.
Low told Wee that he could earn more money by recruiting others, at S$100 per recruit.
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.
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.
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.
Fong then collected the devices and paid Wee S$670 in commission.
Lenovo suffered wrongful loss in delivering the laptops but losing the payment.
RECRUITS 4 OTHERS
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.
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.
Wee also bought two Microsoft laptops worth over S$3,900 in May 2020 at Fong’s request using the same glitch.
Subsequently, PayPal asked Wee to file a police report to process a refund.
Wee lodged an electronic police report in May 2020 lying that two laptops worth about S$4,000 were missing from his delivery package.
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.
He later made full restitution of S$6,701 to Lenovo and S$3,938.40 to Microsoft.
The prosecution said these offences are serious, but the facts of this case are exceptional.
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.
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.
If not for his report, the offences would not have come to light, she said.
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.
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.
For conspiring to cheat, he could have been jailed for up to three years, fined, or both.
Fong is set to plead guilty next month, while Low has pleaded guilty and is set to be sentenced next month.
Source: CNA/ll
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