Woman uses friends’ credit card details for vacations, spa packages

A former pre-school teacher, who has been wanted by Toronto police in Canada since 2019 for offences including fraud, continued with her criminal ways in Singapore and was caught when she tried to flee the city-state in February.

Between November 2023 and February 2024, Hong Konger Morena Hui Yan-Yan, 27, stole or illegally obtained the credit card details of multiple people in Singapore, including her friends.

She made multiple unauthorised transactions using others’ credit cards, causing a total loss of around $15,000.

On July 24, she was sentenced to two years’ jail after she pleaded guilty to five charges for offences including theft and cheating. Twelve other charges were considered during sentencing.

Court documents did not disclose details about the offences in Canada, where Hui was born.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Jeremy Bin told the court that Hui had used her ill-gotten gains to sustain her lifestyle, adding: “The expenses she used these credit cards for included... staying in hotels, attending music festivals, purchasing flight tickets, patronising restaurants, and booking gym, spa and beauty salon packages.”

Two of her victims were her friends – Ms Huang, a 26-year-old Chinese national and Ms Ng, a 28-year-old Malaysian – both of whom she met in September 2023.

Hui was sharing a hotel room with Ms Ng two months later when she rummaged through the latter’s belongings when the older woman was not around.

She later used her mobile phone to snap pictures of Ms Ng’s credit card, before using the information linked to it to make online hotel bookings worth more than $2,300.

Ms Ng, who was unaware of what Hui had done, remained friendly with her.

In mid-January 2024, when they both met up for a drink, Ms Ng left her handbag at her seat while attending to a phone call.

Hui then took the bag to a bathroom, where she snapped pictures of Ms Ng’s replacement credit card.

When she returned to her seat, she told Ms Ng she had simply taken the bag to the bathroom for “safekeeping”.

Hui later tried to use information linked to the replacement card to make a transaction, which did not go through when Ms Ng declined it after receiving an authentication request.

Ms Ng filed a police report soon after.

In an unrelated incident, Hui asked Ms Huang in December 2023 if she could stay with her for a few days. She claimed she wanted to move out of her apartment at Pan Pacific Serviced Suites and needed somewhere to stay temporarily.

Ms Huang initially turned down Hui’s request but was pestered into giving in. Hui then stayed at Ms Huang’s home in an undisclosed location, DPP Bin said.

One day, Hui went through Ms Huang’s belongings when her friend was taking a shower, and snapped pictures of multiple bank cards.

On 50 occasions between Dec 24, 2023, and Jan 20, 2024, Hui duped a bank into believing that she was an authorised user of one of the cards, using it to pay for items worth more than $6,700 in all. They included spa packages and flight tickets.

Ms Huang was not aware that Hui had committed the offences, and allowed the offender to live with her until January 2024.

During this time, Hui searched for valuables at Ms Huang’s home and made off with a red packet containing $1,000 cash. Ms Huang later made a police report.

On Feb 7, Hui found out that the authorities were aware of her offences. When contacted, she lied to a police investigation officer, claiming she was unwell.

She then tried to abscond via Changi Airport that same day but was caught by airport police as she had been placed on a stop list.

The prosecutor said: “Investigations revealed that on the same day, the accused made numerous Google searches to facilitate her abscondment, including ‘How can I escape Singapore quietly’, ‘How do I leave Singapore illegally’, and ‘If I hire a private jet can I fly out without passport’.”

Court documents did not say if Hui was arrested or released on bail, but she continued reoffending later that month.

She lied to a Singaporean woman, claiming to be a YouTuber from Vancouver, Canada, who wanted to explore local food.

The woman then invited Hui to a Chinese New Year gathering on Feb 22.

The prosecutor said: “The accused attended the gathering and noticed that participants were exchanging red packets and placing their valuables (in a study room).

“Under the guise of visiting the bathroom, the accused then entered the study room and rummaged through the participants’ personal belongings.”

She stole more than $350 in cash.

Hui struck again on Feb 25, when she rummaged through several unsecured lockers at a gym and stole items including two debit cards.

On 12 occasions on Feb 26, she duped a bank into believing she was an authorised user of one of the cards and used it to pay for items worth more than $1,000. They included meals at multiple eateries.

Hui was arrested and remanded the following day.

The court heard that she has made restitution of an undisclosed amount to only Ms Huang. While doing so, she attempted to instigate Ms Huang to lie to the police by claiming that there had been a misunderstanding and that the latter had in fact “lost her own money”.

“The accused was ultimately unable to persuade (Ms Huang) to provide a false statement to the police,” said DPP Bin.