Fake SPF warrant cards and documents were seized by the authorities. -- PHOTOS: SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE / The Straits Times-ANN
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): Sixteen Malaysians linked to a transnational scam syndicate, which caused victims to lose more than $1.4 million, were nabbed in Kuala Lumpur on Jan 13 in a raid by the Malaysian police.
The Singapore Police Force, together with the Royal Malaysia Police, had worked together to dismantle the operation, which allegedly carried out government official impersonation scams targeting people in Singapore.
In a statement on Jan 24, the police said that their Malaysian counterparts arrested the scammers, aged between 24 and 43, at an office complex.
They would masquerade as bank officers, usually claiming to be representatives from DBS, OCBC, UOB or Standard Chartered Bank, and call victims.
The fraudsters would then claim that a credit card had been issued in the victims’ names, or that the bank had detected suspicious or fraudulent transactions in their bank accounts.
The calls would then be transferred to another scammer, this time pretending to be a government official from the police or Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
A script used by the scammers was also seized. -- PHOTO: SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE / The Straits Times-ANN
In some cases, the calls would take place over video, with the scammers dressed as police or MAS officers, in front of a backdrop showing the agency’s logo.
Further correspondence would take place on messaging applications like WhatsApp, and to maintain the ruse, the scammers would sometimes produce fake warrant cards or documents.
They would then accuse victims of criminal activities such as money laundering, and get them to transfer money to bank accounts “designated” by the Government to assist in investigations.
Between January and October 2024, there have been at least 1,100 of such cases reported, with total losses amounting to at least $120 million.
The Malaysian syndicate is believed to be linked to more than 50 of these cases, and the 16 arrested have been charged in a Malaysian court with criminal conspiracy to commit cheating.
Expressing his appreciation to his Malaysian counterparts, Mr David Chew, the director of the police’s Commercial Affairs Department, said both sides will continue collaborating to “robustly target and take down these transnational syndicates targeting Singapore victims.”
The amount of money lost to scams hit a record high in the first half of 2024, with more than $385.6 million lost in 26,587 reported cases. The figures for the second half of the year have not been released yet. - The Straits Times/ANN
