SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): Three men aged between 26 and 36 were set to be charged on Aug 24 for offences linked to money laundering activities involving scams.
The police, in a statement on Aug 23, said they received a report earlier in the month about a conman – impersonating a government official – who instructed his victim to transfer nearly S$38,000 into a local bank account.
Police Anti-Scam Command officers zeroed in on a 26-year-old man who is believed to have helped the scam syndicate by acquiring bank accounts for money laundering.
He was arrested on Aug 22 in Hougang, and the police seized more than 40 mobile phones, a cash counting machine, and more than 60 SIM cards.
The two other men, aged 34 and 36, were nabbed at Woodlands Checkpoint when they tried to leave Singapore.
They, too, were believed to have helped the syndicate by acquiring mobile phones and SIM cards. Five mobile phones, four SIM cards and about $30,000 in cash were seized from them.
If found guilty, all three men can be fined, jailed for up to three years or both.
The latest scam and cybercrime figures from the police showed that the number of such cases in the first half of 2024 rose by 16.3 per cent to a record high of 26,587, from 22,853 during the same period in 2023.
Victims in 2024 lost more than $385.6 million, a 24.6 per cent increase compared with the $309.4 million lost in the first half of 2023.
The police reiterated that Singaporeans must reject offers that promise quick and easy money in exchange for the use of their Singpass or bank accounts. - The Straits Times/ANN
