SINGAPORE: A man helped recruit money mules for an international syndicate running a police impersonation scam.
Goh Kok Keong also facilitated the syndicate’s control of its ill-gotten gains.
He roped in two men – Khoo Chun Hean and Looi Yu Chong – who were his schoolmates. The pair then collected benefits of criminal conduct totalling more than $3 million.
On Friday (Feb 14), Goh, 28, was sentenced to six years and eight months’ jail after he pleaded guilty to engaging with the then 20-year-old men and other unknown individuals in dealing with the ill-gotten gains.
Khoo and Looi, who are now 27, were dealt with in court in 2019. All three men are Malaysians.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Theong Li Han said the scam involved fraudsters posing as officers from the Singapore Police Force and “China Interpol police”.
They would call unsuspecting victims in Singapore, claiming that the victims were under investigation for offences and had to cooperate with the alleged authorities if they wanted to avoid imprisonment.
After that, the fraudsters directed the victims to fictitious police websites, which the syndicate had created, to show that the victims were purportedly being “investigated” for various offences.
The fraudsters would then induce the victims to reveal their personal particulars and bank account details on the false premise that they were assisting in investigations.
The fraudsters later made unauthorised electronic fund transfers to the victims’ bank accounts, before asking them to withdraw the cash and deliver it to money mules.
In other cases, the victims were deceived into withdrawing and handing their own funds to money mules.
DPP Theong told the court: “The syndicate targeted vulnerable, elderly victims who were fearful of getting in trouble with the police and therefore more likely to be deceived into assisting the purported authorities.”
On Nov 7, 2017, a retiree who is now 65 years old received a phone call and heard a voice recording claiming to be from “Chinatown police station” and that she had a “pending case”.
She was then redirected to a woman who posed as a police officer.
Four days later, the retiree was duped into giving her online banking details to a man posing as a “chief police officer”.
From Nov 11 to 17, 2017, he instructed her to withdraw her own money from her bank accounts and deliver the cash to others.
The man also told her that these people were “from the Chinese government”, and that by handing her money to them, she would be assisting the police in a so-called money laundering investigation.
The retiree did as she was told and over multiple instances handed the money in envelopes to recipients at places such as Tampines Mall.
She had withdrawn more than $3 million from her bank accounts, and the money was handed to the recipients.
Khoo later received the money either directly or through intermediaries. He received a portion of the ill-gotten gains from Looi, who had also obtained $44,000 from another scam victim.
The DPP said the monies have since been dissipated and no restitution was made.
Goh paid Khoo RM13,000 (more than S$4,100, according to court documents) after the latter completed the job. Goh also paid Looi RM1,500.
Goh was later charged in court in 2019. - The Straits Times/ANN
