www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/man-jailed-for-stealing-120k-from-fellow-passenger-in-one-of-the-worst-cases-of-theft-on-flight
Man jailed for stealing $120k from fellow passenger in one of the worst cases of theft on flight
NewsI find it pretty amazing that the police were able to trace him down to that extent (like how siah?) and that they were willing to put in that amount of resources too.
The next time you walk outside, look up and around you. Be amazed by the number of CCTVs around you. That's a key reason why petty crimes like pickpocketing are so few in SG. Near impossible to get away with it one.
Yeah, but they're able to identify him from the airplane onwards is pretty wild (to me at least).
Unless you're telling me that they have CCTVs inside planes nowadays...
Alamak, he's in a plane with a seat allocated to him. The witness probably remembered where the thief was seated. He just needed to give that bit of information to the police and everything else will flow from there what (name of passenger, what he looks like from the cameras at the immigration side etc). How's that wild siah...
They didn't track HIM down. They investigated EVERY passenger to check if anyone had suspicious activities such as spending a huge sum of money in activities that involves converting cash into material possession that holds intrinsic value. They can also investigate every passenger to know if anyone has remitted money overseas.
A lot of people don't realised the difference between supervised and monitored. CCTV camera in the lift is not always supervised, but actions are monitored and can be retrieved WHEN NECESSARY.
Also, think about all the illegal workers in Singapore that has overstayed their welcome (visa), the police has ALOT more tracking experience and monitoring capability than what you're aware of based on your comment.
Also, the dude that stole the money should've just quickly took an airplane back to China. But considering the diplomatic relationship between China and Singapore, it's highly possible that if he's found in China, he'll be extradited back to Singapore to stand trial.
Victim definitely didn't deserve any of this, but.. why the hell not use something much less bulky and easier to protect like a cashier's order? Or.. you know, telegraphic transfer because we're not in the Stone Age anymore? It's clean money after all, right?
Morgan Freeman narrates: No it was not.
But was it clean tho? Who the hell carries $120K of cash on hand? Even if it’s from sales proceeds, wouldn’t you idk, bank it in at destination and transfer over later?
The remittance fee for international transfer is ridiculously high. From Singapore to overseas might be cheap. But from other countries to Singapore is not as easy or affordable.
That's not counting the commission fee for foreign exchange.
Plus the fact that the victim did declare the amount of money he was carrying at SG Customs (which would lead to more questions asked on SG side) showed the source of the cash is probably legal / "clean".
Because we're still somewhat in the Stone Age, relatively speaking compared to what is technically possible with existing technology. The forms of payment you mentioned are not very easy to use. E.g. TT has a long delay. Cashier's orders probably are not completely interoperable between all banks in all countries. Many non-cash payments are also subject to AML scrutiny, which catches a lot of false positives that inconvenience a lot of innocent people, so it is not only the money launderers that dislike the scrutiny. Cash, OTOH, is immediately transferable free-of-charge and universally accepted.
Large cash transactions are 100% going to attract AML scrutiny
Wondering how the large amount of cash went undetected by airport scans and checks? Can't it be spotted through the machines that scan the hand carry bags? Really curious.
Can, just need to declare.
You can carry as much cash as you want. Its all legal so long as you declare it. They will check your money comes from legit sources and isnt laundered (declaration form will ask you where it come from and stuff like that). As long as your money is clean, no restriction on how much you can bring
Ah I see. Thanks this helps. Obviously I don't have that much money to bring around overseas and back lol
I also lost money on SQ Flight the same way. Did not think someone do this from the overhead compartment, specifically on a SQ flight.
Lesson learned to not to put money in the unlocked bag.
Yeah. At this point anyone who leaves money unattended in an overhead bin is just asking for it. Because it is no longer isolated but seems systematic from a certain nation.
Jewellery fair, according to the article. Plausible enough. He won’t have bank accounts in the other country, and if the customers pay cash, that’s what he will have to accept. He wouldn’t have gone to the police so fast if he had anything to hide.
The curious thing is that if he had declared the currency to customs when he entered Singapore, why didn’t he notice it was missing ? Or does Customs just take the form and not bother to check ?
Because of all these flight thefts, I started using number locks for my backpack inflight
Yeah that might be a good idea actually. Can’t risk it these days.
This is another reminder to Singaporean travelers not to be complacent and to keep your valuables on your person. Pretty sure there was an article about rampant thefts on airplanes months ago with the victims being Singaporeans
The guy went casino and lost $2000+ in one trip lol
Tiong.
Pretty impressed by the scope of work that SPF must've carried out in order to piece all these together and catch the guy.
Sounds like this Peng must've known the victim and plotted for some time before carrying this out.
Bitcoin solves this problem /s
120K so the other guy is being investigated for illegal transport of cash across borders and money laundering, right?
He declared it at customs though.
Who carries $120k in cash anyway???
Lucky when I travel, I always split all the cash in three separate stash, one in my shoe under the socks, one in my underwear and one in my intestine after I swallowed it.
Chinese national Peng Hui is a professional thief, and his modus operandi is to steal from fellow pax onboard flights.
Based on cases reported previously, they appear to be the works of organised syndicates that specifically target other airline pax.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/bit-harsh-china-man-steal-scoot-flight-vietnam-jail-8-months-4042936
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/theft-cambodia-airways-china-national-jailed-seven-months-4084551
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/us80000-stolen-flight-singapore-airlines-man-charged-not-guilty-4177131