Tan Khew Hai, a 58-year-old parcel delivery driver, was fined $2,000 after pleading guilty to one count of dishonest misappropriation.
Tan had noticed a phone that was left behind by a woman at a Singapore Pools outlet and took it with him.
What happened?
The victim had visited UStar Mega Mart at Block 817 Keat Hong Link on 23 December 2020 to buy a lottery ticket, she placed her Samsung Note 20 Ultra 5G on the counter and forgot to take it with her when she left.
Tan was also buying a lottery ticket at the time and he saw the victim’s phone, he then took the phone and tried to unlock it by swiping the screen.
He then left the outlet with the phone and drove away with it without trying to trace down the wonder of the phone – he had no intention to return the phone to turn it into the authorities.
The victim then realised that she lost her phone and returned to the outlet about 10 minutes later but her phone wasn’t there anymore.
Her daughter then made a police report online and Tan was eventually traced, but the phone was not recovered in the end.