SINGAPORE — During a routine servicing session, an elderly couple invited air conditioning technicians to their house. To their surprise, they discovered that S$1,200 was missing from a bundle of notes they had stored in a drawer.
Upon reporting the incident to the police, it was revealed that one of the technicians had admitted to stealing the money.
On 1 June, a netizen shared a video on TikTok, exposing the theft incident encountered by their parents.
According to the netizen, their parents were dismantling a bouquet of banknotes worth S$3,000 (approximately 2,236 USD) before the technicians arrived.
The bouquet was made up of S$10 and S$100 banknotes. Afterward, the parents placed the cash inside a drawer under the air conditioner.
Approximately an hour after the technicians left, the netizen’s mother took out the cash from the drawer, intending to deposit it in the bank for safekeeping.
To her dismay, she discovered that S$1,200 was missing when she counted the money.
The netizen then contacted the manager of the air conditioning repair company to express their elderly parents’ deep distress regarding the incident.
According to the post, the manager allegedly denied all allegations without conducting an investigation. However, he did promise to refund the money through their remaining servicing sessions.
Subsequently, the netizen proceeded to file a police report.
“My elderly parents are so upset over the loss of the huge sum of money and nobody else could have taken it as there was nobody at home. They literally just placed cash they’ve counted into the drawer before the servicing.”
Numerous TikTokers commented on the netizen’s post. Some expressed sympathy for the elderly couple’s financial loss, while others speculated that the technicians might have seen the money when they opened the drawer to retrieve the remote control.
There were suggestions for having family members present to supervise the work, as it would then be their responsibility to provide evidence if the technicians had taken the money.
In a subsequent update on 7 June, the netizen confirmed that the police had interviewed the technicians, and during the interrogation, they admitted to taking a certain amount of money.
The company fired the employee who admitted to the theft
According to Shin Min Daily News, the air conditioner repair company has confirmed that they have terminated the employment of the repair worker involved in the theft.
The manager of the company provided additional information stating that the incident occurred on 26 May.
On that day, rwo technicians were dispatched to the customer’s location to carry out air conditioner repairs.
“I received a call from the customer later, informing me that my employee had stolen their money.”
“I questioned my employees, but they denied it. So, I suggested reporting the incident to the police.”
Following the police interrogation, one of the technicians admitted to stealing the money. The air conditioner company promptly terminated his employment on the same day.
The manager also mentioned that they had returned approximately S$100 to the customer.
