A 37-year-old software developer in Singapore has been fined S$5,000 (around Rs 3.2 lakh) for forging a medical certificate to take 9 days of sick leave. The woamn is identified as Su Qin, who was employed by ETC Singapore SEC Limited and applied for leave due to health issues affecting her family, including her own and her mother's.
However, Qin, a Chinese citizen, was concerned about creating a negative impression at her workplace.
Qin had her reasons for wanting to avoid a "bad impression" at her company. To create a justification for her absence, she forged a new medical certificate using Adobe Photoshop based on an old one. She modified it to indicate St Luke’s Hospital, removed the original hospitalisation dates, specified her desired leave period from March 23 to April 3, 2024, and dated the certificate for the last day of March, as reported by Channel News Asia.
Furthermore, she attempted to make the QR code less noticeable, hoping it would go undetected. After creating the forged document, she received S$3,541.15 during her absence. On April 4, Qin resigned from her job. However, during routine checks, the head of the HR department discovered the forgery due to the blurred QR code, which directed to a broken link, according to the media outlet.
When requested to provide the original medical certificate, Qin allegedly forged another one with a different QR code and submitted this second fake document on April 8. This led her employer to investigate the forgeries, resulting in her termination within 24 hours, as reported by Channel News Asia.
Following her dismissal, the head of HR filed a police report against Qin. Upon investigating, it was found that she had also faked her mother’s death certificate to remain in China as she looked after for her critically ill mother.
Qin was ultimately charged with one count of forgery, with two additional charges considered during sentencing, and was fined S$5,000 by the court. Her lawyer argued for her release from custody, stating that her actions were driven by desperation, noting that she is the sole provider for her elderly parents.
