Singapore | A 26-year-old Malaysian man has been sentenced to 20 months in prison after creating more than 2,000 fake membership accounts to fraudulently obtain e-vouchers worth S$27,915 as part of a shopping mall’s referral programme. The offence took place over nearly a year before it was uncovered.
The man, identified as Aravindran Vallaban, pleaded guilty on January 2 to one count of cheating and was convicted in the Singapore State Courts. The voucher scheme, run by a large shopping mall as part of a promotional drive, offered S$5 in e-vouchers to both new members and referring members upon successful registration.
At the time of the offences, Aravindran was working as an assistant customer relations supervisor at the mall’s management company — a role that involved handling customer inquiries and assisting with promotional campaigns.
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Fraudulent Abuse of Referral Programme
Between May 13, 2024, and April 3, 2025, authorities found that Aravindran created a total of 2,172 fraudulent Marina Square membership accounts using the mall’s mobile membership application. Under the referral scheme, a new member needed to:
- Use a referral code from an existing member, and
- Complete identity verification using a one-time password (OTP) sent to a mobile phone.
Aravindran took advantage of his access to the mall’s internal customer relationship management system, which gave him visibility into OTPs and membership details. His supervisor had shared login credentials with him so he could assist customers who failed to receive their OTPs.
Using this access, the court heard that Aravindran circumvented the verification process by generating fake phone numbers (reportedly created with the assistance of tools like ChatGPT) and then manually obtaining the OTPs via the management system to complete registrations for new, bogus accounts.
For each fabricated account that successfully registered using a referral code, Aravindran collected e-vouchers “credited” to both the new account and the referring account, allowing him to accrue vouchers fraudulently.
Personal Use and Restitution
Officials confirmed that Aravindran used the accumulated voucher credits — worth nearly S$28,000 — for personal expenditures at the mall’s stores rather than for legitimate referrals.
The offence was uncovered after a deputy general marketing manager noticed that certain member accounts were receiving an abnormally high number of referral e-vouchers. An internal review revealed that many of the referred accounts had invalid phone numbers and that a large number shared the same device identifier as Aravindran’s own membership account, raising suspicion of coordinated fraudulent activity.
The deputy general manager subsequently filed a police report on April 17, 2025, which led to the investigation and eventual prosecution. After his arrest and conviction, Aravindran made full restitution of the S$27,915 he had gained through the fraudulent scheme.
Legal Consequences and Broader Implications
The court sentenced Aravindran to 20 months in jail after he pleaded guilty to the cheating offence. Prosecutors had sought a longer term of up to 22 months, citing deterrence as a key factor in punishment.
Under Singapore law, the offence of cheating carries significant penalties, including potential jail terms of up to 20 years and fines, especially when the fraud involves deception and misappropriation of promotional incentives.
