SINGAPORE: Even though he no longer worked for Ninja Van, a former deliveryman logged into the courier firm’s database using his old details to retrieve customer information.
He then tricked customers into transferring him money via PayNow, using ruses like telling them that they need to make certain payments before he could deliver their parcels.
He even wrapped some of his own personal items and delivered them to a customer, demanding a fee for the rejection of the parcel when she said the items were incorrect.
Muhammad Syafiq Jasni, 28, was sentenced to 14 weeks’ jail on Tuesday (Aug 22) for his crimes. He pleaded guilty to three charges of cheating and accessing a computer system to commit cheating, with another seven charges taken into consideration.
The court heard that Syafiq first misappropriated S$1,184.60 that he had collected from customers while he was delivering parcels in April 2020 as an employee of Parcelogix.
He used the money to pay off debts he owed to loan sharks, banks and friends. He had borrowed money from them for his personal expenses, court documents stated.
Syafiq’s family made full restitution on his behalf, and he was given a 12-month conditional warning in May 2020.
However, Syafiq was undeterred.
In August 2020, he approached a 39-year-old woman he knew from his previous job with Ninja Van, as he had made deliveries to her house.
He lied to the woman that he had an outstanding bank loan of S$5,000 and needed money for his personal expenses as he did not have enough money in his bank account.
He told the woman that he would first transfer money from his bank account to hers, and she could then transfer the same amount to his PayLah account.
He lied to her that he did not know how to transfer money from his bank account to his PayLah account.
Syafiq showed the woman notifications stating that he had transferred money to her bank account, but did not show her the follow-up notifications that the transactions were rejected, since he did not have enough money in his account.
In this manner, he tricked the woman into transferring a total of S$2,300 to him between Aug 18 and Aug 20 in 2020.
USED OLD LOGIN TO ACCESS NINJA VAN DATABASE
Syafiq then expanded his cheating methods by logging into the Ninja Van database using the login identification and password details previously given to him when he was a deliveryman for the firm.
He obtained the delivery order details of a 29-year-old woman, whose order was to be paid using cash on delivery.
He then sent WhatsApp messages to her, saying he was the assigned deliveryman for her parcels. He sent her a copy of her invoice, causing her to believe him.
He asked her to transfer him S$320 in total for the delivery of the two parcels via PayNow, which she did.
The next day, Syafiq wrapped some of his personal items and delivered them to the woman. However, after he left, the woman realised that the items were incorrect.
She said she wanted a refund and got her boyfriend to liaise with Syafiq. Syafiq deceived the man into believing that there was a S$100 fee for the rejection of a delivered parcel.
He told the man that he would split the rejection fee equally with him, and the man sent him S$50 via PayNow. Syafiq then said he would return to collect the parcel, but he did not.
The woman later realised she had been cheated and lodged a police report.
Syafiq again accessed the Ninja Van database on Aug 27, 2020 and retrieved the delivery order details of a 50-year-old customer, who was to pay cash on delivery.
He did the same to this customer, sending her messages and claiming to be her deliveryman. He asked her to transfer him S$518 for parcel delivery, but the woman refused to give the full amount.
She said she would transfer only S$118 first and give the rest after receiving her parcel, and did so.
However, the woman later realised she had been cheated when she received a parcel delivery message from Ninja Van.
On Aug 29, 2020, Syafiq happened to go to the workplace of the 29-year-old victim for a massage.
The woman recognised Syafiq and noted down his particulars. She sent the information to the police, which led to the police identifying the man.
Syafiq has since made restitution to all the victims. The total amount involved across all charges was S$4,070.60.
The prosecutor called for a jail term ranging from two months and two weeks to three months and four weeks.
She said Syafiq had a “deliberate and sustained course of conduct”, with multiple victims involved and offences that were difficult to detect.
He also acted with a “high level of premeditation”, misusing his previous account even though he was no longer a deliveryman with Ninja Van.
The court allowed Syafiq to defer his jail term to September.
CNA has contacted Ninja Van for more information.