Chinese man jailed for stealing US$585, bank cards from Singaporean passenger on Scoot flight

Ren Bin, 50, was caught after a cabin crew member noticed the theft and alerted the captain. He was later sent back to Singapore after the plane landed in Jakarta, The Straits Times reported.

Ren, a Chinese national, pleaded guilty to one theft charge and was sentenced on Tuesday. The court heard that Ren boarded the flight on the morning of Oct. 2, 2025, and sat in seat 10D. The victim, a 48-year-old Singaporean, had placed a bag containing his wallet in an overhead compartment in row six before sitting nearby.

At around 11:30 a.m., Ren took the bag from the compartment and brought it back to his seat. He removed the victim’s wallet, three bank cards and US$750 in cash, placed the items in a black plastic bag, and returned the bag to the overhead compartment.

A 32-year-old cabin crew member saw what happened and alerted the victim, who checked his bag and confirmed that several items were missing. The crew member then informed the captain, who contacted Indonesian authorities.

“Before the plane landed… the accused grew suspicious that his crime had been discovered. He threw the black plastic bag containing the items under the seat of the row in front of him. This was to avoid being detected as the thief,” the prosecutor said.

After the plane landed, Indonesian authorities boarded the aircraft, recovered the plastic bag and escorted Ren and the victim off the plane. The items were later returned to the victim.

Ren was put on another Scoot flight back to Singapore and arrested upon arrival at Changi Airport at about 2:40 a.m. the next day.