By Tay Shi'an

ON the surface, she was just another tourist shopping with her three young children.

Scratch the surface and the dark intentions emerge of a desperate mum using her children as a cover.

Penang hairdresser Aoh Wei Li, 32, was using fake credit cards to fool shops in Singapore under the instructions of a criminal syndicate.

She bought $1,880 worth of items in a single day, including Mont Blanc products and prepaid cards for handphone use, before she was arrested in May.

She was sentenced to four years' jail after pleading guilty to nine charges of using counterfeit credit cards.

Another 12 charges were taken into consideration.

Court papers said Aoh became involved in the fake credit card scheme after she borrowed RM30,000 ($12,500) from loan sharks.

After her business failed and she was unable to repay the loan, she was harassed and physically assaulted, resulting in an 8cm scar on her body.

In March this year, a loan shark named 'Ah Li' approached Aoh and told her to go to Singapore to buy big items on his behalf with a credit card.

She arrived with her three children and a counterfeit credit card embossed with the name 'Jenny Aoh'.

Over two days, she bought $700 worth of items in 14 purchases, including shoes and bowling equipment, and managed to return to Malaysia undetected.

On 6 May, Aoh was again approached by Ah Li - this time, he asked her to go without her children.

She was promised a commission of $700 for every $10,000 worth of merchandise, and was told that this commission could be used to repay her loan.

On the same day, she came to Singapore with three accomplices and three fake credit cards under the name 'Jenny Aoh'. The four started shopping immediately upon arrival.

Caught using fake credit cards

But this time, Aoh was not so lucky - she was caught using the fake cards and arrested the same day.

In his written judgement, District Judge Toh Yung Cheong said there was clear evidence that the offences involved an organised criminal syndicate, which is an 'aggravating factor'.

He noted that the quality of the counterfeit cards was so high that they fooled the staff members of a significant number of retailers in Singapore.

She also came to Singapore with a group of like-minded accomplices and they moved through various shopping centres as a group.

He acknowledged that the relatively small value of goods bought by Aoh, her minor role with the syndicate, pressure from loan sharks, and that she was a first offender were mitigating factors.

But he said she assisted the syndicate, whether or not she was a member of it.

Given Singapore's standing as an international financial, commercial and transit hub, a severe and consistent stance had to be taken and applied against all credit-card offenders to maintain public confidence and standing.

Aoh could have been jailed up to three years and fined on each charge.

This story was first published in The New Paper on Nov 29, 2008.