A 40-year-old man was sentenced to five months in prison on Friday, September 26, for purchasing cigarettes from the same store more than 116 times for more than S$3,000 (US$2,320) using altered PayNow screenshots.
Mohamad Razali Ali, a Singaporean man, entered a guilty plea to one count of charge of cheating the 3C Supermart at North Link Building at 10 Admiralty Street, between July 2024 and Feb 14, 2025.
According to the court, Razali "still wanted to smoke cigarettes" despite experiencing financial difficulties in July 2024.
In order to trick the convenience store into believing he had paid for the cigarettes when in fact he had not, he devised a scheme to show it fake screenshots of PayNow transfers.
Razali created fake screenshots showing S$27 in PayNow transfers to the store on at least 116 occasions between July 2024 and February 14, 2025.
Based on a valid previous transfer, he would modify the screenshot's date and time to correspond with the approximate time and date of his visit.
Every time, he went to the store and informed the clerk that he would like to purchase two packs of cigarettes. Packs cost S$13.50 each.
The employee would show the forged screenshot as evidence of payment after taking the packets off the shelves.
The store was tricked into giving him cigarettes totaling S$3,132.
On February 19 of this year, Razali's 117th attempt was uncovered.
The on-duty employee discovered that Razali had not made the transfer when he attempted to purchase two packets after looking through his payment history.
He requested that Razali provide his proof of payment once more, but Razali declined.
After the employee filed a police report, officers quickly showed up and took Razali into custody.
He made full restitution in June this year. He had previously been convicted of crimes like rioting, affray, and cheating with abetment in 2003, 2005, and 2014, the court heard.
In October 2014, he was specifically sentenced to one month in jail for aiding and abetting cheating.
According to the prosecutor, the offense was relatively sophisticated and premeditated.
She added that he has a previous conviction related to this.
Edwin Ho of the Public Defender's Office, Razali's attorney, argued for a shorter jail sentence.
He claimed that his client had fully cooperated and that his family might suffer from a lengthy jail sentence.
According to him, Razali got a call from a social worker who wanted to refer his son to a psychiatrist because he had attempted suicide.
Ho noted that Razali wants to leave as soon as possible in order to be prepared for a social worker interview regarding this.
According to the attorney, he also desired an early release so that he could assist his daughter in making the transition to secondary school.
The lawyer added that Razali was shocked and upset when he learned of his uncle's death on Friday afternoon.
Ho said that he requested a light sentence so that he could leave prison early and grieve with his family in a fitting manner for his uncle.
District Judge James Elisha Lee stated that when determining the appropriate sentence, he took into account the total value of the cigarettes involved as well as the fact that the offense was committed 116 times over a seven-month period.
He claimed that Razali was driven by self-interest as well.
