SINGAPORE - A 34-year-old Singaporean man was deported from Thailand and arrested here on Aug 25 for allegedly hacking into multiple e-commerce accounts to make fraudulent purchases.

The police said in a statement on Aug 25 that they received multiple reports of NTUC FairPrice and Zalora customer accounts being used to make fraudulent purchases amounting to at least $25,000 between July and November 2022.

The man, who was not named, had allegedly worked with at least six other people.

He was first charged in court on Oct 8, 2021 for a separate offence.

However, he absconded while on court bail and failed to attend subsequent court hearings.

On Sept 8, 2022 , the State Courts issued a warrant of arrest against him for failure to attend court.

The Singapore police worked with their foreign law enforcement counterparts to trace his whereabouts, and he was later arrested by the Thai law enforcement authorities in October 2022 .

He was incarcerated in Thailand for drug-related and immigration offences.

On July 30, he was released from prison and detained at the immigration detention centre before being deported to Singapore.

He was arrested on his arrival here on Aug 25.

He is expected to be charged in court on Aug 26 for the offence of unauthorised access to computer material.

If found guilty, he can be jailed for up to two years, fined up to $5,000, or both.

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