Business Enquiries: https://www.business.thebluecats.com.sg/The Blue Cats' Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/singaporethebluecats/ --------In Singapore, people have been jailed for keeping things they found. In 2018, a woman found a Samsung phone in a toilet and denied taking it, but confessed 10 days later after CCTV evidence surfaced. She was sentenced to a week's jail. In 2019, a Grab driver kept money and a phone from a bag left behind by his passenger and threw away the rest. He was arrested four months later, sentenced to three weeks' imprisonment, and had to compensate his victim over $7,500.These individuals were charged under the offence of Dishonest Misappropriation of Property in Singapore's Penal Code. The offence essentially means taking something that doesn't belong to you and keeping it for your own benefit without trying to return it to the owner. Many TikTok skits show people stepping on dropped money and keeping it in comedic ways, but this is actually illegal under this law.However, the law does have nuances. Picking up a dollar on the ground when you have no idea who it belongs to is not an offence. But if there are clues about the owner, such as an envelope with a name on it, and you still keep it, that is an offence. Similarly, if you find something valuable like an expensive ring and immediately sell it without making any effort to find the owner, you are also committing an offence, even if you don't know who the owner is.The same principle applies to digital transactions. If someone accidentally transfers money to you via PayNow and you know it wasn't intended for you but refuse to return it, you are committing the same offence. The Penal Code explicitly covers this scenario. Anyone found guilty of Dishonest Misappropriation of Property faces up to 2 years' jail and/or a fine.