Stall assistant, 47, siphoned S$41,370 via Food Junction card top-up system to pay for meals, gets jail

A 47-year-old man was sentenced to two years and eight months' jail on Dec. 18 for misusing Food Junction's card top-up system to siphon money.

According to CNA, Zhang Gui, who worked as an assistant at one of the foodcourt's stalls, pleaded guilty to one charge under the Computer Misuse Act, and two other similar charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.

Introduction of self-service kiosks

Court documents seen by Mothership revealed that Zhang began working at the Food Junction outlet in Great World City in October 2021.

At that time, patrons could pay for their meals using a Food Junction NETS Flashpay card and enjoy discounted prices.

To use it, they would first have to top-up their card with stored value by approaching individual stalls and using their NETS terminal to add value to the cards.

After Nov. 1, 2021, Food Junction introduced self-service kiosks and individual stalls were no longer required to assist with card top-ups.

These kiosks were later discontinued in September 2023, and Food Junction's card programme ceased on Nov. 28, 2023.

Topped up cards to buy food and drinks for himself and his friends

According to CNA, after the kiosks came into service, Zhang realised that he could still use the NETS terminal at his stall to top up cards.

With this knowledge, he proceeded to perform 2,070 transactions to top up Food Junction cards with a total value of S$41,370 between Oct. 30, 2021 and Nov. 21, 2023.

He used the money stored in the cards to purchase food and drinks for himself and his friends at various outlets.

Flagged as suspicious

On Nov. 21, 2023, Food Junction was alerted to suspicious top-up transactions being performed at the NETS terminal at Zhang's stall.

The transactions had been flagged because amounts of S$10 or S$20 were repeatedly loaded onto a card without any corresponding payment, and stalls were also no longer supposed to assist patrons in topping up their cards.

Security footage later showed Zhang loading money into multiple cards at his stall.

On Nov. 23, 2023, the outlet's managers confronted Zhang and he admitted to the transactions.

He was arrested the same day.

To this date, he has yet to make any restitution to Food Junction.

Abused the trust placed in him

The prosecution sought a jail term of 30 to 40 months for Zhang, emphasising the serious nature of the offence and the extended period over which the crime was committed.

He had also abused the trust placed in him as a stall assistant.

Zhang could have been jailed for up to 10 years, fined up to S$50,000 or both.

Top photo via Benedict Correya/Google Maps