According to an article by The New Paper, a 19 year old teen, Brayden Cheng Ming Yan who was first placed on probation for his role in laundering money as part of the OCBC phishing scams was ordered to undergo at least a year of reformative training (RT).

He would be kept in a centre for his RT where there would be a strict regimen for him to follow.

Some of these include doing foot drills and also undergoing counselling.

Had brushes with the law previously

Cheng in January had pleaded his guilt, acknowledging his involvement in the money laundering activities.

He also acknowledged that he had committed an offence under the Organised Crime Act.

He had previous brushes with the law as well.

In 2021 August, he was placed under probation as he had committed offences like rioting but just three months later in 2021 November, he chose to dabble in crime again all the way till 2022 February where he was involved in money laundering as part of the OCBC phishing scams.

Their role in the scams

Cheng, together with his co-accused had worked together to source and provide bank accounts to unknown persons which were believed to be linked to overseas syndicates and also provided money laundering services to them.

These accounts which they sourced were then used to commit the crimes, receiving money from the scam victims and also distributing out the funds which were scammed.

Cheng was paid $1,400 by the syndicate in 2021 December and 2022 January.

In all, the whole group provided 16 bank accounts to the syndicates which were used to received almost $600,000 worth of funds from the victims.

Other people linked to the scams such as 32 year old Mark Teo Sin Yan, and Leong Jun Xian who was then 21 had already been dealt with while several others who were also involved such as 20 year old Kong Jia Quan and 20 year old Muhammad Khairuddin Eskandariah have their cases still pending.

To start his sentence on 16 Feb

Cheng is now out on a $30,000 bail and he would be expected to show up in court on 16 February to start serving his sentence.

Image source: Google Maps

A woman in Singapore divorced her husband before they got the keys to their allocated BTO flat, and she was awarded the full share of the flat following a successful court appeal.

Channel NewsAsia reported that the couple had separated in January 2019 before their divorce was finalised in May 2021.

They had yet to receive the keys to their flat at the time, with the Family Justice Court ruling that the flat be returned to HDB and the couple getting refunds for the amounts that they paid for the unit, which means that neither the man nor the woman would be getting the flat.

The woman then appealed against the ruling and argued that the removal of the BTO flat from the matrimonial pool should be counted as a loss to the couple and that their children won’t have a home.

Her argument was rejected by the court because she was earning more than her husband – the nurse educator took home an average of $4,936 per month and had about $256,500 in her CPF as well as another $68,000 in other savings.

Her husband, on the other hand, earned about $4,708 per month and only had $345 in his bank account, with another $105,400 in his CPF.

In her second appeal against the ruling, the woman offered to pay her ex-husband $16,000 for his share in deposits and administrative fees in exchange for his relinquishing his interest in the flat, disproving the judge’s concern that she didn’t want to reimburse the husband.

The flat was also valued to be the same as its sale price at the time of the court case after accounting for the MOP (minimum occupancy period), and it was also not an asset eligible on the open market (yet), which means the woman wouldn’t profit from acquiring the home.

Additionally, her husband was also willing to surrender the unit to HDB.

The woman also cited her children’s welfare and said that they need a permanent home.

Justice Woo Bih Li said that despite the divorced couple having joint custody of their children, they are under the care and control of the woman, and giving her the flat would be in the best interest of the children.

She was ultimately given the full share of the flat.

TikTok user @vivala_blondiiie, shared how she was charged $25 by a restaurant after the staff cut a birthday cake that she and her friends had brought themselves, according to Yahoo Singapore.

She posted a video showing the receipt from the restaurant, with the subtotal being $113, before zooming in on the charge of $25 for “1 cake cut”.

She captioned over her video: “When the server asks if we want the cake WE brought cut, thinking she’s doing something nice for us.. But it was 25 dollars.”

Response to the video by netizens have been largely mixed, with some expressing their shock at the $25 fee for just cutting a cake.

Other netizens said that it was a customary practice at restaurants, citing how the staff have to wash the plates and forks but accepted that it was wrong that the customer was not told of the fee.

Netizens’ comments

• Normal for there to be a charge for outside food.
• I would have got the manager bc the server should have told you that you had to pay for it
• Definitely a thing. You aren’t buying their desserts and it’s a PITA to cut/serve. Would you bring your own entrees to the restaurant?
  • (OP) Never asked them to serve me the cake I brought. Just like they never told me it was a charge. What kind of question is that
• Totally a thing. Because then they bring plates and forks, which they then have to wash. But it was wrong that you weren’t told of a fee.
• I don’t mind a small fee but 25 is crazy
• No different than a corking fee. It a restaurant policy to help them pay their bills when people bring food in
• ive never seen this omg. i served at an italian restaurant for a year and we’d cut cakes and provide plates just to be nice

@vivala_blondiiie I didn’t know this was a thing?!? 😳@BrazyBecca @Michelle Greene @Vanessa Valenbaer #ReadySetLift ♬ I try not to km.. – h

The Singapore Police Force have arrested a 31-year-old man for alleged armed robbery at a minimart along Pasir Ris Street 11.

The police were first alerted to a case of an armed robbery at the location on 1 February 2023 at about 1.50am at the minimart.

According to the police’s preliminary investigations, the man was allegedly armed with a knife and demanded the victim hand over money from the cash register.

No injuries were reported from the robbery.

The identity of the suspected robber was established by officers from Bedok Police Division through the use of CCTVs and ground enquiries.

He was subsequently arrested within 18 hours of the robbery report being lodged, and the police seized cash amounting to $276, a knife allegedly used during the robbery, some clothes and belongings.

He will be charged in court today (3 February) with armed robbery, and if convicted, faces a jail term of between 3 to 14 years and at least 12 strokes of the cane.

The assistant commissioner of the police, Justin Wong, said that the man had committed a “brazen act of robbery” and the police will “spare no effort” in ensuring that offenders are swiftly apprehended and dealt with in accordance with the law.

He advised members of the public to remain calm if they encounter such situations and take note of the robber’s physical appearance and distinctive physical features, and call the police for help as soon as possible.