Sri Lankan, 22, jailed for selling bank account for S$1,100, letting it be used for SAF bulk order scam

Desperate for money, a 22-year-old foreign student in Singapore sold her bank account details, allowing it to be used to channel scam proceeds from a Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) bulk order scam.

Rajadi Rajasinghe Manamendra Patabadilage Vishwa Madavi pleaded guilty to one count of abetting an "unknown person" by disclosing her bank login password to the person for an illegal purpose, CNA reported.

On Oct. 1, the Sri Lankan national was sentenced to three months and two weeks' jail, and fined S$1,100.

She is the first person linked to an SAF bulk order scam to be sentenced.

The victim, an owner of an Indian restaurant in Singapore, lost S$24,000 to a fake supplier.

The details of the scam were made known.

Sold account details as she had 'financial difficulties'

The court heard that Rajadi was facing financial difficulties in September 2025 and was in need of money.

"I ran into financial difficulties. My mother was a heart patient and she was unable to send me money," she said, CNA reported.

Rajadi said she resorted to borrowing from friends.

She added that some of them told her about an unknown person from "Sri Lanka" whom she could sell her bank account details to in exchange for money.

Rajadi contacted the person and sold her DBS account details to him for S$1,100.

Subsequently, more than S$30,000 was deposited in the account, before being withdrawn.

Prosecutors said Rajadi's account was used to channel almost S$18,000 in scam proceeds, the bulk of which came from an SAF bulk order scam.

The scam victim was a 59-year-old Singaporean who owns Karu's Indian Banana Leaf Restaurant, CNA reported.

How scam worked

On Sep. 2, the victim got a call from a man called "Marcus", who said he was calling from Stagmont Camp.

Marcus placed an order for 150 biryani meals from the restaurant worth S$2,325, saying he would collect the food two days later and make payment then.

The victim accepted this, and continued to liaise with Marcus on the meals.

On the morning of Sep. 4, Marcus called the victim to ask for his help to buy 40 ready-to eat meals on his behalf, from a distributor called "Kelvin".

Marcus claimed that otherwise, it would take "a lengthy process within the army for him to obtain approval".

He also promised to pay for the meals when collecting the briyani order, and gave Kelvin's contact details to the victim.

After the victim contacted Kelvin, Kelvin asked for a payment of S$8,000 to confirm the order, and the victim complied.

Kelvin also said the meals would be delivered later that day.

Following this, Marcus contacted the victim again and asked him to order 80 more meals from Kelvin.

The victim ended up paying another S$16,000 to Kelvin for the subsequent order.

He lost S$24,000 in total.

Police report made

At about 5pm on Sep. 4, the victim got another call from Marcus to order more meals from Kelvin.

However, he got suspicious as Marcus had not collected the biryani, nor had Kelvin delivered the ready-to-eat meals.

The victim then lodged a police report.

The same day, the police froze Rajadi's bank account, which had about S$89 inside.

Investigators found that Rajadi's account also funnelled S$1,980 from a 48-year-old female scam victim who got a WhatsApp message from a person that posed as her cousin and asked for a loan.

The WhatsApp account was found to have been compromised.

Rajadi was placed in remand since Sep. 17.

Jailed and fined

Prosecutors sought a sentence of between three-and-a-half and four months' jail and a fine of S$1,100 for Rajadi,

In mitigation, Rajadi pleaded for leniency, and said she was sorry for her actions, CNA reported.

She also said she was unaware of the gravity of the offence.

"Your honour, I came here to study. I have disappointed my mother. Please give me a chance," said Rajadi.

Rajadi was sentenced to three months and two weeks' jail, and fined S$1,100.

If she does not pay her fine, she would have to serve three days jail in default.

Top image from Breaditation & Muhammad Shazain Faiha Muslim Food Paradise/Facebook