Man allegedly uses magnet to steal S$40 Pokémon tin from claw machine in Bencoolen

A man was seen using what appears to be a magnet to steal a tin of Pokémon trading cards from a claw machine in Bencoolen.

The tin is apparently worth S$40.

The incident occurred on Nov. 5 at about 1:44pm at Kuclaw, a claw machine shop at Sunshine Plaza.

Claw machine

In surveillance footage provided to Mothership, the man can be seen playing with a claw machine before pulling an object from his pocket.

He then glances at the surveillance camera for a brief moment before placing it beside the claw machine.

The prizes inside the claw machine appear to react to the object, which was presumably a magnet.

He attempts to use the magnet to win a prize but fails.

However, on his second attempt, he wins a prize, and the claw machine lights start flickering.

The man then plays a few more rounds on the claw machine before retrieving the prize and leaving the premises.

Frequent clawer

Speaking to Mothership, the claw machine store operator, Alvin, said the man was a “frequent clawer”.

During the day of the alleged theft, the man apparently texted Alvin at about 1:35pm.

As Alvin was busy, he did not notice the man’s messages until he saw two messages from him on Alvin’s personal WhatsApp and Business accounts at about 1:45pm.

However, the messages were deleted.

“I know whenever he does text, it means he either won something or there is something he would like to claim, as I do promotions all the time.” Alvin said.

Alvin then looked at the surveillance footage and spotted him in the alleged act.

Unexpected

Alvin said the incident was unexpected, as the man was “the least of the many ‘problematic’ customers” whom he thought would use such a method to win prizes from the claw machines.

“I'm really confused why he would attempt to use such a method just to win a tin he could easily afford to buy and instead put his own reputation at risk,” he said.

He also said that in his “six years in the industry”, no one had apparently “made such an attempt” prior to this incident.

“At most, [they were] just stealing items from above the machines or attempted to cheat the system in other ways,” Alvin said.

Actions

Alvin said that he waited two full days for the man to return to the shop to admit his wrongdoings as he believes in giving people a second chance.

However, Alvin lodged a police report after no further contact was made.

“To me, I always believe a leopard doesn't change its spots, so even if I did call out to him to return, I'm sure he would continue to do it elsewhere, or might have already succeeded before, given he was so confident and successfully pulling this attempt within just one visit.” He said.

Alvin added that this incident could serve as a “warning” for other claw machine operators who may not be aware of this method to steal prizes.

In response to Mothership's queries, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) confirmed that a police report was lodged and are looking into this matter.