Domestic helper steals $210k from S’pore employer, buys condo and land in Philippines until she has nothing left
A Filipina domestic helper who worked for a family in Singapore for more than a decade was jailed after stealing more than $210,000 worth of cash and jewellery from her employer’s safe over a period of four years.
She then sold some of the items in the Philippines and used the proceeds to buy condominium units, cars, and land.
The accused, 47-year-old Raguindin Alma Bassig, was sentenced to three years and two months’ jail on July 17.
She pleaded guilty to two charges of theft by a servant, while another three charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.
According to Shin Min Daily News, court documents showed that she was working for her 54-year-old employer since March 2016, and was tasked with handling household chores for a family of four. Her duties gave her unrestricted access to all rooms in the landed home, including her employer’s bedroom.
In 2022, she found three keys inside the pocket of a jacket kept in a wardrobe. After testing out the keys, she discovered that one of them unlocked the family’s safe, which contained large amounts of cash and jewellery.
Over the following year, she opened the safe on at least three occasions while no one was home, taking cash in euros, pounds, and Japanese yen, as well as numerous pieces of jewellery made of gold, diamonds, jade, and silver.
Among the stolen items were luxury jewellery from Van Cleef & Arpels and Bvlgari.
She later smuggled the stolen items back to the Philippines during home leave. There, she exchanged the foreign currency for pesos and sold, pawned, or kept the jewellery.
She then used the proceeds to purchase condominium units, a car, and farmland.
Stole again in 2024
In June 2024, Raguindin stole from her employer again when the family left the house.
The items she took included:
- Cash in Malaysian ringgit and Vietnamese dong
- Twelve gold bangles
- Two 24K gold necklaces
- A diamond jewellery set
- Two 999 gold coins
- Gold jewellery
She brought the stolen items to the Philippines during her leave, where she sold or pawned the jewellery and spent the money.
Helper arrested after CCTV camera catches theft
In November 2025, her employer noticed cash missing from the safe, but initially assumed she had misplaced it.
On May 27, 2026, she installed a motion-activated surveillance camera in her bedroom.
Just two days later, she received a motion alert on her phone and checked the footage, which reportedly showed Raguindin opening the safe and retrieving valuables.
She immediately called the police, and Raguindin was arrested in the early hours of the following day.
Investigations found that Raguindin had stolen cash and jewellery worth more than $210,000 in total. None of the stolen items has been recovered, and no restitution has been made.
Employer says helper earned above-market salary but still borrowed from loan sharks
The employer, who declined to be named, told reporters outside the courtroom that Raguindin earned a monthly salary of $1,200, which she described as higher than the market rate.
She added that her husband also gave Raguindin a “red packet” containing $2,000 every year.
However, after Raguindin’s arrest, other domestic helpers and debt collectors turned up at the house claiming she had borrowed sums ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars.
The employer also showed reporters messages allegedly sent by loan sharks, including photographs of her home’s unit number.
“She was greedy. After she was arrested, she even told the police that we had underpaid her salary. That was truly heartbreaking,” she said.
‘We treated her like family’: Employer shaken by theft
The employer said the family had always treated Raguindin like one of their own, and would celebrate her birthday and pay for her flights to the Philippines.
At the end of 2025, they also paid to bring her husband and two children to Singapore for a holiday.
She said many of the stolen jewellery pieces remain in the Philippines and that she hopes to negotiate with Raguindin’s family to recover them.
“Some of the jewellery are not only valuable, but deeply sentimental. Some pieces were gifts from my mother-in-law when my husband and I got married.”
Fighting back tears, she said Raguindin had never apologised or offered any compensation.
Helper says she has nothing left
When the employer applied for compensation in court, Raguidin kept her head down throughout the proceedings.
She pleaded with the court not to implicate her family and said she hoped to return home soon to reunite with her mother.
When asked how much money she currently had, she replied that she had nothing.
The prosecution said it would not seek a compensation order but would consider applying for a confiscation order — which would require her to pay a monetary sum equivalent to the amount she stole — to help the victim.
The judge noted that the employer could also pursue the losses through a civil lawsuit.
The employer disputed any suggestion that the helper stole out of financial hardship, saying the stolen money had been spent on luxury purchases.
She added that one of Raguidin’s sisters had told her that the accused had not been sending money home to support their mother.
At one point during the hearing, the employer shouted at the helper, who was appearing via videolink: “Shame on you, Alma!” before returning to her seat.
See something interesting? Contribute your story to us.
