SINGAPORE: Lured by the promise of money, a woman decided to take up her sister’s offer to obtain bank accounts and cards in exchange for payment.
Despite suspecting that the accounts would likely be used for illicit activities from the onset, Nguyen Lan Dung, 24, agreed to the arrangement.
On Thursday (June 19), the Vietnamese national was sentenced to 10 months’ jail after pleading guilty to three charges under the Computer Misuse Act, and one under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act.
Eleven charges of a similar nature were taken into consideration during the sentencing. Dung was also fined S$1,700.
Investigations revealed that after Dung agreed to the arrangement, she reached out to a man to say she knew people who would pay him for control of his bank account. Court documents do not reveal how investigations into Dung and her sister started.
Sometime in March 2024, the man agreed and gave up his bank details and the corresponding physical ATM card.
Dung handed over the card and login details to her sister and her sister’s boyfriend, and was paid $700.
Court documents stated that the man’s bank account and ATM card were later found to be linked to extortion scams, and were used to transact a flow of scam proceeds.
Under the arrangement, Dung would also act as the point of contact for other Vietnamese nationals who were willing to sell their bank accounts.
She would earn between $500 and $700 for each bank account she helped to procure.
Sometime in March 2024, she managed to obtain two different bank accounts from two Vietnamese nationals.
Court documents do not reveal how Dung had managed to contact the two.
Around the same period, Dung, along with her sister and her sister’s boyfriend, arranged to sell 11 bank accounts to unknown persons.
Dung’s sister, Nguyen Huong Giang, remains on the run from Singapore. - The Straits Times/ANN
