SINGAPORE: A logistics manager at a phone repair company misappropriated more than 25,500 defective iPhones over one-and-a-half years, conspiring with a Malaysian man to sell them overseas and earning more than S$3 million in profits.
Sometime in late 2017, Ng and Lim agreed on a scheme to pocket defective iPhones by exploiting security gaps in the process that were not detailed in court documents.Their method meant that neither Pegatron nor Apple would realise there were missing phones in the latter's inventory, and both of them agreed to sell the misappropriated iPhones overseas to third parties and split the profits.
After receiving the misappropriated phones, Lim liaised with buyers overseas to sell them and split the profits with Ng. A small number of misappropriated phones could not be sold as they contained fake components, and they would be secretly returned to Pegatron's inventory.Between Jan 31, 2018 and May 2019, the pair misappropriated 25,5051 defective iPhones from Pegatron. The firm suffered S$6,799,790 in losses, with Ng making a profit of S$3,115,482.
Pegatron lodged a police report on May 24, 2019, and Ng and Lim were arrested. Police seized thousands of dollars from Ng's bank accounts and froze a sum of about S$33,000 in the corporate account belonging to 24 Hrs, as well as the S$71,750 deposit held by the property developer. Ng had abused her position as an"insider" and logistics manager, a relatively senior role, and put in a significant degree of planning to organise the courier service and phone deliveries on a twice-weekly basis.