By Khushwant Singh
IN HIS two visits to a shop in Sim Lim Square in March this year, Tan Kok San bought a total of four Apple iPhones and 12 other mobile phones with counterfeit credit cards.
When he returned to the shop on April 9 to try to buy more phones, the staff called the police.
On Tuesday, the Malaysian, 34, was jailed for 2 1/2 years for credit card fraud amounting to $27,000 comprising mainly of phones.
A district court heard that Tan had borrowed money from a loan shark in Malaysia late last year. When his employer did not give out the annual year-end bonus, the shop assistant was unable to repay the debt.
He was the roped in by the loan shark to come to Singapore and buy expensive items with fake credit cards and 10 per cent of the value of the item would go to payment of his debt.
The court was told that none of the items were recovered.
