Indonesian maid “gets rich” by stealing more than $56,000 in valuables from employer after saying she wants to balik kampung

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After telling her employer that she wanted to end her employment contract and balik kampung, a 33-year-old Indonesian maid took advantage of the time when her employer went to Malaysia for holiday and stole more than $56,000 worth of cash and jewellery so that she can “get rich” before going home.

She then passed some of the valuables to another maid and asked her to help sell them. This second maid later sold the items to pawn shops but kept a gold necklace and some of the sales proceeds for herself.

The employer later realised some of the valuables kept in the luggage in his bedroom were missing and lodged a police report.

Umi Wachidah, a 33-year-old Indonesian national, was sentenced to eight months’ jail on Wednesday (11 January). She pleaded guilty to one charge of theft by a servant.

According to Zaobao, the Indonesian maid Umi was employed by a 64-year-old Singaporean man to take care of his wife, who had suffered from a stroke and had difficulty moving around.

In June 2020, the Indonesian maid told her employer that she did not want to continue working, and she also learned that her employer kept his cash and jewellery in a luggage bag in his bedroom.

In October last year, the employer realised that some of the valuables kept in the luggage in his bedroom were missing and informed his daughter. His daughter and son-in-law checked Umi’s belongings on 3 November 2022, and recovered some stolen jewellery and a sum of about 38 million Indonesian rupiah (S$3,442) which had been converted from the sale of some of the stolen items.

After probing, Umi admitted stealing from the victim.

Investigations revealed that the employer went to Malaysia for vacation from 24 September to 1 October last year, leaving Umi at home to take care of his wife.

In order to “get rich” before leaving Singapore, Umi opened the luggage bag in the afternoon on the day her employer departed Singapore and took items including jewellery and currencies with a total value of about $56,800 from it.

On 15 October 2022, Umi messaged a fellow Filipino maid and asked to meet up at a rubbish chute. She told the other maid that she was going back to Indonesia in November 2022. She then passed some of the stolen items to the maid and asked her to sell them on her behalf.

Umi then remitted about $11,000 from the theft proceeds to her boyfriend in Indonesia, and also used part of the money to buy clothes, bags and food.

After she got caught, she returned all unpawned jewellery, cash and items she had bought with the theft proceeds. She also reversed the remittance, but after deducting service fees, the victim received an amount of about $9,200.

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