NEA officer receives S$20,000 PayNow transfer sent by mistake, withdraws & uses it, gets fined

A man in Singapore intending to transfer S$20,000 to himself via PayNow mistakenly keyed in the wrong mobile number and sent the money to a stranger instead.

But when he messaged the recipient, Cho Joon Chin, about it in June 2021, the 59-year-old National Environment Agency (NEA) officer did not reply him.

Cho instead went to the bank the same day and withdrew the entire sum for his own use.

He was caught after the 51-year-old victim lodged a police report. He has since paid back the sum in full.

NEA said Cho has been suspended from duty, pending further disciplinary action.

Got S$20,000 via an erroneous PayNow transfer

According to court documents, the victim, surnamed Tan, made the erroneous transfer on Jun. 22, 2021.

Tan had intended to transfer S$20,000 from his DBS corporate business account to his personal account, which was linked to his mobile number.

However, at about 1:54am, he sent the sum to Cho's mobile number instead.

Their two numbers differed by a single digit.

Tan realised his mistake shortly after making the transfer.

Between 2:06am and 10:25am, he messaged Cho seven times to inform him about the mistake, and ask him to send the money back.

However, he did not get a reply.

Tan reported the matter to DBS Bank three days later and sought assistance to reverse the transaction.

However, DBS Bank told Tan on Jul. 22, 2021 that their attempts to recover the erroneous transfer from Cho were unsuccessful.

So Tan lodged a police report on Sep. 21, 2021.

Withdrew the full sum that day

Investigations found that Cho had received the transfer in his UOB bank account on Jun. 22, 2021.

He also read Tan's messages but ignored them.

Later that day, Cho went down to the UOB branch at Waterway Point in Punggol and withdrew the full sum for his own use.

When interviewed by police on Nov. 25, 2021, Cho said he had used the S$20,000 on his "personal investments".

On Dec. 22, he returned Tan S$14,000, but said he needed more time to return the remaining S$6,000.

Claimed it was from selling his Rolex, later returned money

However, eight days after this, on Dec. 30, 2021, Cho came back to the police with a different story.

He claimed the sum of money he got was actually the proceeds from selling his Rolex watch to a "Mr Chew", who transferred him the S$20,000 as payment on Jun. 22.

Cho further claimed that he was "entitled to the cash" and told police he would not be returning the S$6,000 to Tan.

Cho subsequently lodged a police report online, to attest to the "sale" of the Rolex.

But when police investigated the matter, Cho was unable to provide evidence of "Mr Chew's" identity, or verify the "sale" of his watch.

So Cho eventually agreed to return the remaining S$6,000 to Tan.

He did so on Jan. 16, 2024.

Accused's wife has end-stage cancer: Defence

Cho pleaded guilty to dishonestly misappropriating the cash in court on Jul. 17.

The prosecution sought a non-jail term for Cho, CNA reported.

In mitigation, Cho's defence lawyer pleaded for leniency, saying Cho has a child, and his wife has multiple organ end-stage cancer.

He pointed that it was Cho's first offence, and that he has made full restitution to Tan.

"He is remorseful. It is really out of character, and I can say this because I know the accused personally," the lawyer said.

The lawyer also asked for an instalment plan for Cho to pay any fine, adding that his take-home salary is about S$2,200 and that he could only afford S$500 a month in payment.

The judge fined Cho S$5,000.

He has been suspended from duty: NEA

In response to Mothership's enquiries, an NEA spokesperson said the agency is aware that Cho has been charged in court.

"NEA does not condone any acts that violate Singapore’s laws and adopts a zero-tolerance stance against all forms of dishonest behaviour", the spokesperson said.

Cho has been suspended from duty, pending further disciplinary action, the spokesperson added.

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