SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): Three people are slated to be charged on Monday (Aug 18) over their suspected involvement in two separate cases of scams.
Two of them, Malaysian men aged 39 and 45, allegedly scammed their victims by pretending to be the police or from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, said the police in a statement on Aug 17.
The scammers told their victims that they had been implicated in crimes such as carrying out unauthorised bank transactions or money laundering, and were required to surrender their money for investigations, said the police.
The victims then transferred money to the scammers’ accounts and gave them money and valuables such as gold bars and luxury watches in person.
The two men, allegedly from the same scam syndicate, were arrested separately at Woodlands Checkpoint and in the vicinity of People’s Park Complex on Aug 16.
Both men had been instructed by the syndicate to come to Singapore to collect money from victims, preliminary investigations showed.
They are believed to be involved in other similar cases and were facilitating the scam syndicate to retain benefits from criminal conduct, said the police.
The third person to be charged is a 32-year-old Singaporean woman suspected of providing fraudulently registered post-paid SIM cards for monetary gain.
She allegedly asked for the help of two others to register a shell company to apply for more than 600 SIM cards with telco company Simba in June and July.
The cards were given to an unknown person for monetary gain of between $40 and $48 each. She was arrested at Changi Airport on Aug 17.
The two men will be charged with the offence of abetment by conspiracy to assist another to benefit from criminal conduct. If found guilty, they may be jailed for up to 10 years, fined up to $500,000, or both.
The woman faces charges of transacting SIM cards registered using another person’s personal information for criminal activity. If found guilty, she may be jailed for up to three years, fined up to $10,000, or both.
The public is reminded to never transfer money, cash or other valuables to unknown persons, said the police.
They should also take note that government officials will never transfer a phone call to the police, ask people to install mobile applications from unofficial app stores, or ask for money or bank log-in details. - The Straits Times/ANN
