SINGAPORE, Jan 22 — Linberg Yeo Yu Wei, a 27-year-old accounts executive, siphoned over S$500,000 from his company in just two months, which he spent on Pokemon trading cards, an iPad, and a second-hand Rolex watch.
Yeo also spent the money on gambling, holidays, and credit card bills before being caught, The Straits Times reported today.
On January 22, Yeo was sentenced to 19 months in jail after pleading guilty to one count of cheating.
A similar charge was taken into consideration for sentencing, according to the Singapore newspaper.
According to the news report, Yeo had been employed by biomedical equipment supplier SPD Scientific in July 2023 and was responsible for processing payments to vendors, a task that required CEO and finance manager approvals.
Yeo discovered that his CEO would approve transfers if he mentioned the finance manager had already approved the payments.
“As (Yeo) wanted more money to spend, he created fictitious entries in the payment requests and deceived the CEO that these were legitimate payments to vendors,” Deputy Public Prosecutor Goh Qi Shuen was quoted as saying.
Between August and October 2023, Yeo managed to cheat his CEO into approving S$501,173 in fraudulent transfers to his bank accounts.
In November 2023, the company’s HR manager noticed discrepancies related to a S$24,840 transfer to Yeo’s account.
After being questioned, Yeo returned the money the following day, but the company later conducted an internal investigation, leading to a police report in December 2023.