What began as a routine customer referral campaign at Marina Square devolved into a calculated internal fraud that exposed weaknesses in access controls and the ease with which generative artificial intelligence can be repurposed for illicit gain. According to reporting by BatamNewsAsia, a 26‑year‑old customer relations officer, Aravindran Vallaban, admitted to creating 2,172 bogus membership accounts in order to obtain nearly S$28,000 in e‑vouchers and was sentenced on Jan 2 to one year and eight months’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to a cheating charge. [1][3]
Prosecutors told the court that the scheme, which ran from May 13, 2024, to April 3, 2025, exploited a referral promotion launched in April 2024 in which both referrer and new member received a S$5 e‑voucher once a new registration was verified. Industry reporting shows Aravindran used login access provided to him at the mall’s information counter to view one‑time passwords (OTPs) and voucher‑issuance details inside the customer relationship management system, enabling him to complete registrations without real users. [1][2][3]
Key to the fraud was the use of generative AI to fabricate plausible contact details. According to court submissions cited by Channel NewsAsia and The Straits Times, Aravindran generated fake phone numbers using ChatGPT, populated the membership forms with those numbers, retrieved the OTPs visible through the shared credentials, and repeated the process more than 2,000 times to accumulate e‑vouchers which he then spent at outlets within the mall. The prosecution linked the bogus accounts to a single device ID that corresponded to Aravindran’s own membership account. [1][2][3]
Marina Square’s operator, run by Singapore Land Group through its subsidiary MCH Holdings, detected the anomaly after its deputy general manager of marketing noticed unusually high referral rewards on certain accounts and found many associated phone numbers to be invalid. Internal logs and an audit trail eventually led investigators to the suspect, who cooperated and made full restitution of the amount before sentencing, a factor the court recorded in mitigation. Reporting notes the restitution did not remove the seriousness with which the court treated the abuse of entrusted access. [1][3]
The case illustrates familiar vulnerabilities: password‑sharing, insufficient privilege segregation, and weak OTP governance. Experts quoted across coverage warned that as loyalty programmes scale and integrate third‑party tools, including generative AI, organisations must bolster audit trails, restrict credential sharing, and implement stronger verification methods to reduce insider risk. According to The Straits Times and Channel NewsAsia, prosecutors emphasised the incident as a cautionary example for retailers and property managers across the region. [1][2][3]
Beyond this incident, law‑enforcement and investigative reporting indicate a broader trend in which criminal actors and, in some cases, corrupt insiders increasingly leverage AI to automate and refine frauds. The Straits Times reported that international agencies have observed criminal syndicates using AI to make scams more convincing, complicating detection and disruption efforts. That wider context heightens urgency for businesses to adapt controls as AI tools become more accessible. [7][1]
For consumers and corporate stakeholders, the Marina Square episode is a reminder that digital trust relies on both technology and governance. According to BatamNewsAsia and corroborating regional outlets, preventing similar breaches will require tighter internal controls, employee training, clearer accountability for credential handling, and technology changes to verification workflows, measures that will become more pressing as generative AI is woven into everyday operational tools. [1][2][3]
📌 Reference Map:
- [1] (BatamNewsAsia) - Paragraph 1, Paragraph 2, Paragraph 4, Paragraph 5, Paragraph 7
- [2] (Channel NewsAsia) - Paragraph 2, Paragraph 3, Paragraph 6, Paragraph 7
- [3] (The Straits Times) - Paragraph 1, Paragraph 2, Paragraph 3, Paragraph 4, Paragraph 6
Source: Noah Wire Services