BEING on the run with millions of dollars of other people's goods may appear quite appealing but the truth is it can be quite a lonely life.
Lawyers told The Straits Times that many of these fugitives return not because their money ran out but mainly because of homesickness or harassment.
The most recent to surrender himself is ex-Cortina senior supervisor Jerry Ee.
He is alleged to have stolen 386 watches in six designer brands – Audemars Piguet, Girard-Perregaux, Panerai, Patek Philippe, Rolex and Vacheron Constantin – and 194 guarantee cards.
The total worth of the watches: a cool $7.9 million. Also missing from the store: $27,137. He is believed to have made off with this loot after the store closed on Christmas Day.
It has been reported that he made his way to Malaysia by car and then flew to Thailand.
It is not known where he stayed there but a source told The Straits Times that he lived it up "like a prince".
On March 17, he surfaced in Bangkok and gave himself up at the Singapore Embassy in Bangkok. With him, were 230 watches.
He was repatriated to Singapore on March 19 and now probably faces a long jail term if convicted.
Mr Ee spoke Thai and had gone there regularly on holidays with his friends. But this time, he was on his own.
He kept in touch with his close friends and it was childhood buddy Chang Jun who urged Mr Ee to give himself up.
He did after less than three months on the run. So much for being a millionaire fugitive.
All that said, it must be noted that ex-lawyer David Rasif is still on the run after taking about $11.3 million of his clients’ money in 2006.
But Mr Ee and Mr Rasif are poles apart in character.
Mr Rasif was a sociable sort of guy, who could strike up friendships easily. Mr Ee was rather reserved, with a small circle of close friends.
Loneliness and peer pressure could have made Mr Ee give up but Mr Rasif is still going strong as a solo deperado.
His family is here and his wife has divorced him.
His whereabouts have been the subject of much speculation, with the strong contenders being Thailand and Argentina.
Prominent criminal lawyer Subhas Anandan of KhattarWong said that there were many Singaporean fugitives in Thailand.
He found this out on a visit to Bangkok last year.
In a popular nightclub, nearly a dozen men came to shake his hand and greet him.
When he told his hosts that he was surprised he was so well-known among the Thais, they laughed and said that his "fans" were all Singaporean fugitives.
Mr Anandan said that they are drawn there because Thailand has a large number of local Chinese and assimilation is easy.
Lawyer Christopher Bridges also pointed out that Thailand was a favourite sanctuary as it does not have any extradition arrangements with Singapore. More importantly in his view is that the locals have a live-and-let-live attitude.
"They might think a person is suspicious but many won’t confront him or report him to the authorities if he does not cause any trouble," said Mr Bridges, who runs his own law firm.
That is not the case for many fugitives hiding in Taiwan or China, said some lawyers who had acted for clients that had fled there.
The clients had complained that local gangsters would extort money from the fugitives and whatever loot there is will quickly dry up.
"In my opinion, the best thing is to get paid for a honest day’s job and spend the money with family and friends," said Mr Peter Low of Colin Ng & Partners.
"Those are the treasures a man needs and not millions of stolen dollars or watches," added the senior lawyer.
Read more about Jerry Ee's return to Singapore: Recovered watches worth $4.6 million, Fugitive Ee back in Singapore