Three men, who have allegedly masterminded a GrabHitch payment fraud syndicate, were arrested and charged in court on Wednesday.
In April, the transport company Grab reported that they have noticed irregularities in some of their social carpooling drivers' GrabHitch accounts. Reports stated that from February to April, the company found a minimum of 13 driver accounts with more than 2000 fraudulent transactions, amounting over S$41800 in losses.
On Tuesday, May 14 police said that after the officers from the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) started their investigation, they arrested seven individuals for their suspected involvement in this syndicated payment fraud.
CAD officers also nabbed alleged masterminds of this fraud, aged between 19 and 22, Chua Wei Beng, Ryan Wong Wei Zhi and Kenneth Ho Hong Wei.
Further investigation also revealed that between March and April, these full-time national servicemen are accused of making over 300 fraudulent transactions on a GrabHitch account, resulting in a payment of S$563.
Each of them was charged in court with one count of engaging in a conspiracy to cheat GrabTaxi Holdings, which owns GrabHitch service.
Even though these alleged offenders are out on S$15,000 bail each, they are asked to return to the court on June 12. If the court finds them guilty, then these offenders could face a jail term up to 10 years, including a fine for each charge.
It should be noted that one of the offenders, Chua faces two other charges of causing hurt to another man. Court documents showed that along with two other men, he allegedly kicked and punched a 25-year-old male several times on his face and body on May 15, 2015, at Tampines West Community Club.
He is also accused of being a member of illegal assembly along with seven other individuals, aged between 17 and 23, on April 25, 2016, at Block 606 Bedok Reservoir Road.
