SINGAPORE — After losing her job as a preschool teacher in November last year, Morena Hui Yan-Yan went on a spending spree using credit cards that she stole from friends and strangers.

The 27-year-old Canadian-born Hong Kong citizen is also on the run from the authorities in Toronto, where she has been wanted for alleged fraud and other property offences since 2019.

Hui’s crimes in Singapore included using the stolen bank cards to pay for hotel stays, music festivals, air tickets, restaurant meals, and to book gym, spa, and beauty salon packages.

Even while she was being investigated for these offences, she tried to abscond from the country on Feb 7 this year but was apprehended by the airport police as she was on a “stop” list.

She went on to steal more credit cards and cash from other victims between Feb 7 and Feb 25 while she was under investigation, before she was nabbed.

On Wednesday (July 24), Hui was sentenced to two years’ jail, after pleading guilty to four counts of cheating and one count of theft in dwelling.

Her sentence was backdated to Feb 27, when she was arrested and remanded.

Another 12 charges were taken into consideration in sentencing.

STOLE BANK CARD DETAILS, CASH FROM TWO FRIENDS

Hui was a preschool teacher at a kindergarten here until her work contract was terminated in November 2023. Court documents did not state when she began working in the role or why she was dismissed.

Sometime in November last year, Hui and a female friend — whom she met through an online application a couple of months earlier — stayed in a hotel room together.

While the friend was out of the room, Hui searched through her belongings and found the woman’s credit card.

Hui then used her mobile phone to take photographs of the credit card, including its expiry date and security code, without the friend’s consent.

On Nov 25, Hui used the credit card details to pay for two hotel bookings amounting to S$2,317.24.

In December last year, she sought to stay in the home of another friend, claiming that she wished to move out of her apartment in Pan Pacific Serviced Suites and needed somewhere to stay for a few days while looking for a new apartment.

Though this friend initially declined, she later agreed after repeated requests from Hui.

Hui stayed in the friend’s home from Dec 16 to 18 and during that time, she went through the friend’s wallet while the friend was showering.

She again took photographs of multiple credit and debit cards, including their expiry dates and security codes, without consent.

Later, on 50 occasions between Dec 24, 2023, and Jan 20, 2024, Hui chalked up S$6,710.37 on the friend’s cards, including paying for packages on fitness-class provider ClassPass, and making transactions to a pottery studio and a rock-climbing gym, among other expenses.

Both these friends initially did not suspect that Hui had perpetrated the offences and remained friendly with her.

Sometime in the middle of January this year, Hui met up with the first friend for a drink.

During this meeting, the friend left her handbag on her seat while attending to a phone call.

Hui then took the friend’s handbag to the bathroom, where she took photos of her replacement credit card.

After this, Hui returned to her seat and lied to the friend that she had taken the bag to the bathroom for safekeeping.

The next day, Hui tried to make a transaction using the replacement card, but the friend received a two-factor authentication request notifying her about this.

The friend declined the transaction and filed a police report.

Around the same time, the second friend had allowed Hui to again stay in her home between Jan 18 and 21 this year.

During this time, Hui continued to search for valuables to steal.

On Jan 20, she stole a red packet containing S$1,000 in cash from the friend’s home.

The friend filed a police report.

TRIED TO ABSCOND FROM SINGAPORE

On Feb 7, Hui was told that she was being investigated by the police.

Lying to the investigation officer that she was unwell, she then tried to abscond via Changi Airport on the same day.

However, she was apprehended by the airport police since she had been placed on a stop list.

Investigations later revealed that on the same day, Hui had made numerous Google searches to facilitate her abscondment.

These included searching using these phrases: “How can I escape Singapore quietly”, “How do I leave Singapore illegally”, and “If I hire a private jet can I fly out without passport”.

CONTINUED STEALING

While under investigation, Hui reoffended throughout February, until she was arrested and remanded on Feb 27.

On Feb 21, she befriended a woman after lying that she was a YouTuber from Vancouver in Canada who wanted help to explore local food.

The woman invited Hui to her church cell group’s Chinese New Year gathering, happening the next day at a home.

There, Hui became acquainted with a third victim.

Sometime between 6.45pm and 8pm on Feb 22, Hui attended the gathering and noticed that participants were exchanging red packets and placing their valuables in a study room.

Under the guise of visiting the bathroom, Hui then entered the study room and rummaged through the participants’ personal belongings.

She found cash amounting to S$342 and two red packets with S$30 cash in the victim’s wallet and stole these.

A few days later, on Feb 25, Hui attended a strength training class at Ground Zero Gym, which she had paid for using the ClassPass credits bought through the earlier offences.

There, Hui rummaged through unlocked lockers that contained other gym users’ personal belongings to search for credit or debit cards.

In total, she found and stole four cards, including a GrabPay debit card and a DBS bank multi-currency Visa debit card.

Between Feb 25 and 27, she tried to make transactions using the GrabPay card. Court documents did not state the transaction sum or its merchant.

Then on Feb 26, she also used the DBS debit card to make 12 transactions amounting to S$1,058.98.

Between Feb 7 and 26 this year, at least four police reports were filed by different people who claimed that their credit cards had been used without their consent. Hui was later identified as the culprit.

In total, she made 81 unauthorised transactions and attempted transactions. She caused a total loss of about S$15,000.

To date, she has made restitution to only one of the victims.

However, in doing so, she asked the friend to lie to the police by claiming that this had been a misunderstanding and that she had lost her own money. The friend declined to do so.

For each cheating conviction, Hui could have been jailed for up to 10 years and been fined.

For each count of theft in dwelling, she could have been jailed for up to seven years and been fined.