Three suspects taken back to scene over alleged use of stolen card details to buy costly graphics cards

A man allegedly used another person’s credit card details to buy expensive graphics cards, then returned to the same shop an hour later, raising suspicions. On Friday (30 October), police took him and two alleged accomplices back to Sim Lim Square and nearby Burlington Square to reconstruct the events.

As Lianhe Zaoba (LHZB) previously reported, police received a call for assistance from a retail shop on Rochor Canal Road at about 7.45pm on Monday (26 October).

Investigations showed that a 36-year-old man used an e-wallet to buy two graphics cards worth more than S$2,700 in total, then handed the items to an accomplice waiting in a car. About an hour later, he returned to the shop and attempted to buy computer parts worth more than S$4,000. This aroused a shop assistant’s suspicions, and he was detained by security officers.

Following further investigations, police arrested two other men in the transit area of Changi Airport the next day as they were preparing to leave Singapore.

At about 2pm on Friday, 36-year-old accused Ou Yanming was the first to be escorted back to Sim Lim Square by police to help reconstruct the events.

A reporter at the scene observed that Ou, who wore a white polo shirt, black shorts and transparent flip-flops, was handcuffed and had his ankles shackled. He appeared serious.

Three police officers escorted him to a computer shop called Tech Deal on the fourth floor of the mall for questioning. During the visit, an officer took out a graphics card involved in the case and asked him about the details.

After spending about 10 minutes there, Ou left with the officers at around 2.30pm.

About six minutes later, the other two accused, Li Yancheng, 25, and Zhang Pei, 27, were also escorted to the same shop.

Li looked around from time to time, gazing curiously at the media cameras. He also initiated conversations with officers and occasionally smiled. Zhang kept his head slightly lowered and was quieter.

The pair were then taken to a mobile phone shop on the first floor of the mall for questioning. The entire process took about 16 minutes.

The three men were subsequently taken to nearby Burlington Square in separate groups at 2.52pm and 2.55pm, before leaving in police vehicles at around 2.57pm.

The owner of the mobile phone shop, who declined to be named, told LHZB that Li and three other men had visited his shop at about 7pm on the day of the incident to buy an iPhone 18 Pro Max.

However, when they tried to pay using contactless payment, the card terminal showed that the transaction had failed two or three times in succession, raising the owner’s suspicions. Li then made a phone call, apparently asking for another credit card’s details, and eventually completed the payment.

As Li was leaving with the phone, he unexpectedly turned back. He claimed that his company was holding an event soon and wanted to give away phones, so he wished to buy another four or five.

“I was already very suspicious of him by then, so I immediately refused to sell him any more phones.”

The three accused, all Chinese nationals, were charged in court on 28 October. Their cases are scheduled to be heard again on 4 November.

According to the charges, the three allegedly conspired to use another person’s credit card details to fraudulently purchase two graphics cards worth S$2,720.64 in total from Tech Deal through contactless payment.