Miss Universe Singapore 2017 contestant Ashley Rita Wong was jailed six weeks on Thursday, 11th February 2021 for using her friend’s bank card details to make unauthorized transactions. The 27-year-old Ashley Rita Wong Kai Lin memorized her friend’s bank card numbers and within a span of three months in 2016, she spent more than $2,000 on expenses such as ride hails, a hotel stay and clothing from online stores.

She earlier pleaded guilty to four charges under the Computer Misuse and Cybersecurity Act, with 27 similar charges to be considered during sentencing. The court heard Wong had illegally used the bank cards of three friends, although the prosecution only proceeded on charges involving two of them — Andrew Lim, 28, and Kimberly Qwee, 26.

She used those details to make 21 payments between August and September 2016, including nearly $200 at online fashion store Showpo and about $300 for tickets. Wong memorized Ms Qwee’s debit card details when Ms Qwee had left her card unattended, and used that to make several payments, including one for $260 to stay at Hotel Clover.

Wong has returned most of the amounts to the victims since, said Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Cheng You Duen. However, she was unable to make restitution to some merchants after her friends had their transactions cancelled and refunded.

Disputing an argument made by the defence, DPP Cheng said that investigations showed that she had not admitted her acts to her friends immediately, nor revealed any evidence to suggest that the victims remain good friends with her.

In fact, he referred to police statements that showed the three victims did not forgive Wong for her actions and that one of them had cut off contact with her. Each offence of unauthorized access to computer material for a first-time offender carries a jail term of up to two years or a fine of up to $5,000, or both.