The Singapore police said a 20-year-old Singaporean man and a 22-year-old Malaysian man would be charged on Jan. 6 for suspected involvement in several cases of government official impersonation scam.
“The offence carries an imprisonment term of up to 10 years, a fine not exceeding $500,000, or both,” said the Singapore Police Force in a statement release.
SPF said the duo had allegedly been tasked by unknown persons, believed to be part of a transnational scam syndicate to collect cash and valuables from scam victims, and pass them on to other unknown parties based on preliminary investigations.
The police established the identities of the suspects after extensive ground investigations.
They were arrested on Feb.4 at the Woodlands Checkpoint while attempting to leave Singapore.
The statement cited three cases where victims were scammed with the same playbook.
The victims were tricked into believing they were being investigated for money-laundering by a caller impersonating as an official from “Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) of Singapore” and to transfer their valuables or money to an “investigation officer.”
One of the cases involved an elderly woman who handed jewellery worth more than $90,000 to the Malaysian suspect and would have lost money had his son not intervened in time.
The elderly woman made a report to the police on Jan. 30.
She handed the jewellery to the Malaysian suspect after was tricked into believing she was being investigated in a $2.5 million money laundering case by a caller who purported to be from MHA.
The caller told her that the valuables would be transferred to an “investigation officer” and “directed her to withdraw her fixed deposit and transfer the funds to another bank account” for the same purpose of investigation.
The caller first told her her SingPass had been misused to apply for a credit card from Trust Bank and when she denied having the card, transferred the call to the MHA impersonator.
In another case reported to the police on Feb. 4, a person on the phone purported to be from MHA told the victim she was being investigated in a money laundering case.
“As part of the investigation, the victim was instructed to hand over her gold jewellery and valuables worth approximately $62,900 to an investigation officer,” the statement said.
The victim was first contacted by a caller claiming to be from HSBC Bank who informed her of unauthorised transactions on a HSBC credit card under her name.
She handed the valuables to the Malaysian suspect who told her to provide details of her bank accounts for consolidation into a single account for transfer to an unknown account for “investigation purposes.”
The scheme was thwarted when the victim reported to the police, sensing something was amiss.
In a report to the police on Jan. 23 involving the Singapore suspect, the same deceptive methods were used.
The caller first contacted the victim saying she had several insurance policies from UnionPay Insurance.
The call was then transferred to another caller who impersonated a MHA officer and was told she was being investigated in a money laundering case.
She was told to hand over $10,000 to an “investigation officer.”
Convinced she was being investigated in a money laundering case, the victim handed the money to the Singaporean suspect the same day.
“The Police continue to observe an increasing trend of Malaysian nationals crossing into Singapore to act as cash- and valuables-collectors for scam syndicates,” the statement said.
Scammers, members or recruiters of scam syndicates will face mandatory six to 24 strokes of the cane with effect from Dec. 30 last year.
Scam mules who enable scammers by laundering scam proceeds will face discretionary caning of up to 12 strokes.
The statement also reminded members of the public that Singapore government officials will not ask anyone to transfer money over the phone, request banking details, install apps or transfer calls to the police.
