MBS restaurant worker fraudulently collected $10,000 in rewards to spend on food

Osmond Chia
The Straits Situations
Apr 12, 2022

The assistant manager of Blossom Cafe in Marina Bay Sands (MBS) collected payment reward factors using a friend’s membership account when buyers instructed her they had been not members of the reward system.

She did this 47 times, racking up far more than $10,000 in rewards, and put in much more than $1,100 on meals at the integrated vacation resort.

On Tuesday (April 12), Teo Kwee Yen, 48, pleaded guilty to a single demand of unauthorised modification of the contents of a computer and was sentenced to jail for 6 months.

Yet another two fees ended up taken into thought in the sentencing.

The court listened to that in 2018, she questioned her mate, Mr Choong Chin Aun, if he desired to use for a Sands Benefits Life style account, telling him that application was free of charge.

Mr Choong applied to be a member, and then gave Teo accessibility to his account by disclosing his account specifics to her.

On 47 instances among December 2018 and February 2019, Teo made use of this account to acquire credited factors – recognized as Location Pounds – from payments manufactured by clients of Blossom Cafe, a Chinese restaurant.

She did so by getting into Mr Choong’s account selection into a computer system and modifying its contents despite understanding that this was unauthorised, reported Deputy Public Prosecutor Nicholas Wuan.

He stated: “These Desired destination Pounds have monetary worth, and can be redeemed for merchandise and expert services at Marina Bay Sands. The price of the Spot Bucks were being paid out for by the retailer at which they were being accrued.”

By Feb 13, Teo experienced accrued some $10,070 in benefits from transactions totalling $118,500. She redeemed about $1,170 for personalized costs, such as foods at Rise, Imperial Treasure, Cut by Wolfgang Puck and Black Tap at MBS.

Suspicious, MBS employees advised her manager that points ended up being credited to Mr Choong’s benefits account on a extremely frequent basis. The supervisor then uncovered that Teo was driving the unauthorised transactions.

She admitted that she would use the opportunity to credit details to the account every single time clients explained they were not a member of the Sands Benefits Lifestyle.

Teo pleaded with the judge for leniency and said that she had learnt her lesson and recognized comprehensive duty for her steps.

In his sentencing, District Judge Marvin Bay observed that Teo had manufactured restitution of $1,173, introducing that MBS has indicated that the restaurant can make a scenario for the refund of the unexpended benefits.

He explained Teo’s acts were a “flagrant abuse” of her position, applying her insider understanding of the reward procedure and dealings with patrons who she realized did not have a membership with MBS to accrue factors to the account for her have advantage.

Her jail term was deferred until Might 12 to let her to settle own affairs.

These who make unauthorised modifications of computer product can be jailed for up to a few years and fined up to $10,000.