SINGAPORE: Three men were charged on Wednesday (May 15) for conspiring to cheat ride-hailing company Grab of more than S$40,000 through fraudulent transactions made with GrabHitch drivers.

Ryan Wong Wei Zhi, 19, Chua Wei Beng, 21, and Kenneth Ho Hong Wei, 22, are believed to be masterminds of a payment fraud syndicate, according to police who had arrested 10 people in an island-wide operation on Monday.



Mobile phones, debit cards and a thumb drive were seized by the police during the operation.



Last month, Grab filed a police report after discovering irregularities in the accounts of some of its drivers under the social carpooling service, police said in a news release on Tuesday.

At least 13 driver accounts were detected with more than 2,000 fraudulent transactions amounting to more than S$41,800 in losses between February and April, police added.

According to court documents, Chua and Ho, both storemen at Selarang Camp and Wong, a full-time national serviceman at Dieppe Barracks, each made 314 fraudulent transactions worth S$5,653 on a GrabHitch account.



Both Chua and Wong intend to engage lawyers.

If found guilty, they could be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.



Smartphones and debit cards seized by police in GrabHitch fraud case. (Photo: SPF)

In a statement to CNA, Grab said: "We take fraud seriously and have worked closely with the police on this matter.

"Providing a safe and secure platform for our users, driver-partners and merchants is a top priority for us, and we will continue to invest in technologies to fight fraud and safeguard our platform."