Man jailed, fined for letting loan shark use his ATM cards

Man jailed, fined for letting loan shark use his ATM cards

A petroleum inspector who handed over two ATM cards to an unlicensed moneylender to facilitate his moneylending business was jailed for one month and fined the minimum $30,000 yesterday.

David Jude Tupaz, 33, admitted to handing over his POSB ATM card as well as its corresponding personal identification number or PIN to a loan shark in December last year.

A district court heard that some time last year, Tupaz's friend, known to him only as "Darren", offered Tupaz $200 a month to use his bank account and ATM card.

Darren told Tupaz that the account would be used for illegal activities.

Some time in early December, Tupaz handed over two ATM cards, including a POSB ATM card linked to his account, to Darren at the void deck of Block 416, Bedok North Avenue 2.

Tupaz also gave the corresponding PIN to Darren, who promised to pay him $200 a month for the use of each account.

Subsequently, Tupaz found that multiple transactions were performed daily, using the account. He knew that his account would be used to facilitate an unlicensed moneylending business. He allowed Darren to continue using it as he wanted to earn the extra cash.

The account was used to receive illegal loan repayments and also to disburse illegal loans via fund transfers from December until June this year, when Tupaz closed it. During this period, more than $170,000 had passed through the account, the court heard.

Assistant Public Prosecutor Dillon Kok told District Judge Toh Yung Cheong that Tupaz committed the offences purely for financial gain.

Tupaz, who had a second similar charge taken into consideration, could have been jailed for up to four years and fined up to $300,000.

elena@sph.com.sg


This article was first published on Dec 3, 2014.
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