PUBLISHED ONDecember 11, 2025 8:06 AMBYEsther LamAn elderly Singaporean couple had to extend their day trip to Johor Bahru (JB) after their valuables, including their passports, were stolen.
The incident took place at a shopping mall in Skudai on Sunday (Dec 7) afternoon, according to local media reports.
CCTV footage of the incident circulating online showed a man in a grey shirt and blue jeans trailing behind the elderly couple, both 80 years old, as they walk through a supermarket.
The suspect quickly crouched down and reached into their shopping basket, before taking their backpack and immediately walking away in another direction.
Yang Simou (transliteration), secretary of the National Taiwan University (NTU) Alumni Association in Malaysia, told China Press that the elderly man, identified as Lin (transliteration), and his wife are both alumnus.
He said they only realised their backpack — containing their passport, phone, cash and credit cards — was missing when they went to pay the bill.
The couple were originally planning to return to Singapore on Dec 7 after attending a luncheon, but had to stay overnight due to the incident.
Yang said the couple later contacted their daughter in Singapore to try and retrieve the stolen items by using the Find My application on their iPhones, and also instructed her to cancel their credit cards, reported Sin Chew Daily.
He added that he roped in five to six people to help search the shopping mall, but they could not find the culprit.
After learning about the incident, Yang told China Press that he asked the mall to review the CCTV footage and also helped the couple make a police report.
He added that the couple's son also went to JB on Dec 8 to aid in the search and took them to the Singapore Consulate-General.
The phone was subsequently found in a garbage bin of the shopping mall on Dec 8, reported Sin Chew.
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