An 18-year-old male teenager in Singapore downloaded the ComfortDelGro taxi booking mobile app and linked his debit card to the NETS Click payment method to book plenty of rides -- and paid zero dollars.

However, his fraudulent conduct was eventually detected and he was sentenced on Oct. 27 to a year's detention in a reformative training centre.

He pleaded guilty in September 2020 to one charge of performing a computer function to commit an offence of cheating.

He was found suitable for rehabilitation in a reformative training centre.

Discovery of loophole

The teen downloaded the app on Oct. 29, 2019.

His ruse was straightforward: He discovered a loophole in the app one day as he realised he could successfully book a ride and then deplete the funds from his debit card when his ride was on its way to him.

He managed to pull this off as he drained the funds from his bank account by making purchases of items, resulting in no fare being deducted in the end as there was an insufficient amount left.

Tested loophole

But his method also worked when he subsequently tried booking another taxi and then transferring the money out of his account to leave no funds for the fare deduction.

Exploited loophole for profit

The teen then advertised cheap taxi rides on Telegram group chat SG Hitch, offering rides cheaper than offered in the ComfortDelGro app.

He got paid by passengers who booked a ride via his app, and did not make any payment to ComfortDelGro for the fares owed, resulting in the taxi operator to lose money.

Scaled up exploitation

The teen ended up creating multiple accounts to exploit the loophole and he booked 117 rides for himself, friends and those he offered the service to for money.

ComfortDelGro made a loss of S$2,598.60 for the rides.

A bank alerted the company to fraudulent transactions.

ComfortDelGro then lodged a police report.

Sentencing

For his computer crime, the teen could have been jailed for up to 10 years, fined up to S$50,000 or both.

He cannot be named under the Children and Young Persons Act as he was under 18 at the time of the crime.

The teen had reoffended while on probation for other offences, including theft.

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Top composite image via ComfortDelGro