Delivery driver who exploited loophole to cheat Grab of more than S$11,700 jailed

SINGAPORE: A man who exploited a loophole in Grab’s delivery system to fraudulently claim more than S$11,700 (US$9,100) in fees was sentenced to seven months’ jail on Friday (Mar 27).

Dzulqarnain Muhamad, 35, carried out more than 900 fraudulent “attempted delivery” claims over a span of a month, deceiving GrabTaxi Holdings into paying him for jobs he never performed.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of cheating, with another count taken into consideration for sentencing.

The court previously heard that Grab’s GrabExpress courier service pays drivers a fee when they attempt but fail to complete a delivery in certain situations.

For instance, when the sender is uncontactable, a driver must return the item to the Grab driver centre before indicating on the mobile application that the parcel was returned. Grab would then automatically cancel the job and pay the driver a fee.

Dzulqarnain exploited this system loophole by accepting delivery jobs and immediately marking them as “returned” without ever collecting the items.

He learnt about the loophole through an ex-co-worker, Alex Wang Xiang Yi, whom he met in April or May 2025 while doing odd jobs at a company. Wang is facing his own court case and is expected to plead guilty next week.

Wang gave Dzulqarnain the contact details of an existing Grab driver, whose account Dzulqarnain took over. That driver then introduced him to a colleague with another Grab driver account, which Dzulqarnain also took over. 

Dzulqarnain changed the accounts' profile photos to his own and linked the Grab wallets to his own bank account. Dzulqarnain also had an existing account which he used to exploit the loophole. 

Between June and July 2025, he carried out 609 fraudulent transactions using the first Grab driver's account, obtaining about S$7,720.90.

Using the second Grab driver’s account, he carried out a further 322 "attempted delivery" claims and received about S$4,020.80.

Dzulqarnain paid the two drivers an undisclosed sum of money for the use of their accounts.

In total, he cheated Grab of more than S$11,700 through 931 fraudulent transactions in the proceeded charges. 

Court documents showed that he transferred the illicit earnings to his personal bank account and used the money for his own expenses. He has not made any restitution, although he previously indicated his desire to do so to the court.

The offences came to light after Grab conducted internal checks and uncovered 5,540 suspicious transactions linked to 24 accounts operated by five Grab drivers.

Dzulqarnain was arrested on Aug 8, 2025.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Jheong Siew Yin sought between seven months and eight months, two weeks' jail for Dzulqarnain.

Ms Jheong pointed out how the accused had exploited technology and loopholes in Grab's system to commit the offence.

On the proceeded charges, she added that Dzulqarnain had offended over a "sustained period" in less than a month.  

"This reflects recalcitrance and an eagerness to perpetrate a scheme of offending for as long as he remained undetected, which is aggravating," Ms Jheong said.

For cheating, a person can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.