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SINGAPORE — Saddled by hefty debts back home, an Indonesian maid used a bank card belonging to her employer's elderly father to make 89 unauthorised withdrawals totalling $88,600 from January to July 2023.
Eka Yuniarsih, 32, then remitted a portion of her ill-gotten gains to her creditors in Indonesia.
Her offences came to light after the elderly man died. She has made no restitution.
But $5,442 and more than 7.4 million Indonesian rupiah (about S$644 according to court documents) were later seized from her.
She admitted that more than $3,000 of the seized cash had been withdrawn from the victim's bank account.
On Tuesday (Nov 14), Eka pleaded guilty to one count of criminal breach of trust and was sentenced to 15 months in jail.
She was also ordered to pay a compensation of $5,442.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Etsuko Lim said that the victim's son had employed Eka to take care of his father who was around 95 years old then.
In August 2022, the wheelchair-bound elderly man sought her help to withdraw cash from his bank account. He then handed her his automated teller machine (ATM) card and told her the personal identification number.
He also told the maid to retain the card, so it would be more convenient for her to withdraw cash for him.
The DPP said: "(The victim) only ever authorised the accused to withdraw money from his bank account on his behalf, and never for the accused's own benefit."
Soon after, Eka withdrew money from the account without his knowledge and consent as she wanted to pay off her debts.
She purposely withdrew not more than $1,000 in a single transaction to avoid triggering the bank's automatic alert to the elderly man for transactions involving larger sums of money.
She remitted some of the cash to her creditors in Indonesia and also took $8,000 of her ill-gotten gains to Indonesia when she made a trip there in April 2023.
The senior citizen died on July 10, and six days later, Eka's employer received his father's bank statement for the previous month.
The younger man confronted her when he realised that there were multiple withdrawals from his father's bank account in June.
She lied, claiming that his father had made all the transactions. The younger man alerted the police on July 18 and officers arrested Eka later that day.
She finally admitted that she had made the unauthorised withdrawals.
On Tuesday, DPP Lim stressed that she had made no restitution and urged the court to sentence her to between 16 and 20 months in jail.
She added, "The accused's cunning is evident from how she deliberately withdrew no more than $1,000 from (the victim's) bank account in a single transaction, to avoid triggering the bank's automatic alert.
"(The victim) was an immobile, elderly man. The accused took advantage of his inability to visit the ATM independently or to monitor his finances closely, and pulled the wool over his eyes."
Offenders convicted of criminal breach of trust can be jailed for up to seven years and fined.
Source: Straits Times
95岁老人将ATM卡托付给女佣，女佣偷走了他约9万美元，入狱
新加坡——2023 年 1 月至 7 月，一名背负巨额债务的印度尼西亚女佣使用雇主年迈父亲的银行卡进行了 89 次未经授权的提款，总计 88,600 美元。
32 岁的埃卡·尤尼亚西 (Eka Yuniarsih) 随后将部分不义之财汇给了印度尼西亚的债权人。
老人去世后，她的罪行才被曝光。 她没有做出任何赔偿。
但后来从她身上没收了 5,442 美元和超过 740 万印尼盾（根据法庭文件，约合 644 新元）。
她承认，被扣押的现金中有超过 3,000 美元已从受害者的银行账户中提取。
周二（11 月 14 日）， Eka 承认了一项刑事失信罪，并被判处 15 个月监禁。
她还被责令支付 5,442 美元的赔偿金。
副检察官林悦子（Etsuko Lim）表示，受害人的儿子雇用Eka照顾他当时95岁左右的父亲。
2022年8月，这位坐轮椅的老人向她寻求帮助，从他的银行账户提取现金。 然后他递给她他的自动柜员机（ATM）卡并告诉她个人身份证号码。
他还叮嘱女佣把卡保留下来，这样方便她替他取现。
民进党表示：“（受害人）仅授权被告代表他从其银行账户中提取资金，而从未为了被告自身的利益。”
不久之后，埃卡在他不知情和同意的情况下从账户中提取了资金，因为她想偿还债务。
她特意单次提取的金额不超过1,000元，以免银行对老人进行大额交易自动发出警报。
她将部分现金汇给了印度尼西亚的债权人，并在 2023 年 4 月前往印度尼西亚时将 8,000 美元的不义之财带回了印度尼西亚。
这位老人于 7 月 10 日去世，六天后，Eka 的雇主收到了他父亲上个月的银行对账单。
当年轻男子意识到六月份他父亲的银行账户上有多次取款时，他与她对峙。
她撒了谎，声称所有交易都是他父亲做的。 7 月 18 日，这名年轻人向警方报警，警方于当天晚些时候逮捕了埃卡。
她最终承认自己未经授权提款。
周二，副检察官 Lim 强调她没有做出任何赔偿，并敦促法院判处她 16 至 20 个月的监禁。
她补充道： “被告的狡猾显而易见，她故意在单笔交易中从（受害者）银行账户提取不超过 1,000 美元，以避免触发银行的自动警报。
“（受害人）是一位行动不便的老人。被告利用他无法独立前往自动取款机或无法密切监控自己的财务状况，蒙蔽了他的双眼。”
被判犯有刑事失信罪的罪犯可被判处最高七年监禁并处以罚款。
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