www.shaproperty.com

The Electric New Paper :

SHOCK FOR HDB FLATMATES

My credit card's maxed out? But my card is here

SHE found it strange that someone else had used her credit card to go on a shopping spree when it was not missing.

22 September 2007

SHE found it strange that someone else had used her credit card to go on a shopping spree when it was not missing.

He wondered how someone else could have applied for a SingPass, a handphone line and broadband, using his identity card, when he had not lost it.

Former flatmates, Ms Tan, 29, an accounts executive, and Mr Puah, 28, a marketing executive, are saddled with bills amounting to almost $5,000, which they say were chalked up by someone else.

The only explanation, according to them, is that a burglar stole the cards from the flat, used them, then returned them unnoticed, in February.

The two Malaysians, who shared the flat with a compatriot, said all three were away for a few days in the third week of that month.

Ms Tan said: 'The thief must have taken the opportunity to enter our flat when we were all not in. Also, we are all working adults and no one is home during the day.'

When Ms Tan told her landlord about the incident two days after she lodged a police report, he told her that he had lost a bunch of his keys, including those to the flat, a week before the suspected burglary.

Ms Tan, said she was unaware that someone else had used her credit card until 1 Mar.

CALL FROM BANK

That was when she got a call from her bank, asking if she was trying to use her debit card to pay for jewellery from a shop in Causeway Point, and if she had used it to pay for a cab ride earlier.

Ms Tan, who was playing badminton, told the bank to stop the transaction, and rushed home to check her wallet.

She found that her debit card was missing, though her credit card was still there. She also found that about $1,000 in local and foreign currency was missing from a drawer.

She called the bank to say her debit card had been stolen. She also asked for transactions on her credit card to be stopped, as a precaution.

To her horror, she was told that the credit card had been used to almost its maximum credit limit the previous day .

Said Ms Tan: 'I was shocked at hearing that but I was more frightened to see the credit card still in my wallet.'

'I didn't understand how my credit card could have been used when it was in my drawer all the time,' she added.

She made a police report that night.

When she told her flatmates, one of them, Mr Puah, realised that US$200 ($300) belonging to him was missing, along with four bottles of wine he had bought duty-free.

But all his personal documents, including his identity card, were intact in his drawer.

According to both Ms Tan and Mr Puah, the third flatmate didn't have anything missing because he said he carried his personal documents with him at all times.

Mr Puah had more nasty surprises in store.

In mid-April, he visited his sister's flat, the address on his identity card, and found a letter from the Central Provident Fund Board waiting for him there.

It said his request for a SingPass had been successfully processed at a community club on 26 Feb.

But he had not applied for one and had not been to the club.

He lodged two police reports on 15 Apr. One for the Singpass application not made by him, and the second police report when he discovered someone had used his Singpass to apply for a personal credit line.

'I was confused as to how someone could have used my identity card. It had been in my drawer all the time, and I usually do not carry it with me,' said Mr Puah: 'I was curious as to why someone would want to apply for my SingPass. Then one of my friends told me that it was possible to apply for personal lines of credit online.'

Around the same time, Mr Puah said he also received two calls from a man claiming to be from a bank, asking him for his identity card number for verification.

Mr Puah refused. His handphone showed the call was from a handphone line.

Mr Puah decided not to take chances and called every bank asking if any applications had been made in his name recently.

One bank he phoned informed him that an online application for personal credit had been made in his name.

He immediately cancelled it.

'Fortunately I discovered the application had been made and managed to cancel it,' he said.

But it didn't end even there.

A few days later, he received a handphone and broadband bill for $159.79.

It turned out that the number from which the call to Mr Puah had been made earlier was in his own name.

$1,000 TO TERMINATE

When he approached the service provider, he was told he had to pay about $1,000 in all to terminate the two subscriptions as both were on contract.

Said Mr Puah: 'It is unfair that I have to pay the bill and termination fee for mobile and broadband subscriptions I did not sign up for.'

Ms Tan has yet to pay the bills of about $4,000 on her credit card by the thief who had bought jewellery from several shops, and a handphone.

'It's hard-earned money. I don't even splurge that much on myself, and I have always paid my bills on time. I don't find it fair to pay for someone's else crime,' she said.

Ms Tan said she had been asked to view CCTV footage of the person who had used her credit card and forged her signature.

'It was not someone I know,' she said.

The three flatmates moved out in March and have found other accommodation separately.

THE THEORY

IN

Landlord loses keys.

Thief enters flat when all housemates are out and takes credit card and identity card

OUT

He spends on the credit card and uses identity card to apply for SingPass, broadband and handphone

IN

Thief enters flat again and returns the credit card and identity card

Copyright © 2005 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Co. Regn. No. 198402868E. All rights reserved.
Privacy Statement and Conditions of Access