SINGAPORE: A man joined a Cambodian scam syndicate in 2024, but was fired within three days after failing to cheat any Singaporeans.
He was arrested when police conducted an operation against the syndicate in September 2025.
On Friday (June 26), Yip Chee Ming, 30, a Malaysian, was sentenced to 16 months and two weeks’ jail, after pleading guilty to one count of being a member of an organised crime syndicate.
Another charge for cheating was taken into consideration during sentencing.
The court heard that Yip found out about the scam caller job from his friend, Jason, in October 2024.
The scam syndicate, which was based in Phnom Penh, conducted government official impersonation scams to cheat Singaporeans.
Between Sept 3, 2024, and Sept 5, 2025, the group was believed to have been involved in at least 528 reported scam cases, with losses amounting to about S$52.5 million.
The court heard that the syndicate’s leadership was responsible for the criminal operations and paying commissions to callers like Yip.
The next levels of the syndicate were the supervisors and trainers, who oversaw the callers.
The trainers would provide callers scripts to read, and the trainers would give them tips on how to be more convincing, such as speaking with a Singaporean accent.
There was also a group of money launderers within the syndicate, who converted scam proceeds into cryptocurrency.
The court heard there were at least 78 suspected members within the syndicate.
Jason told Yip he was interested in joining the scam centre, but did not want to join alone. He asked Yip to join him, and Yip agreed.
Both were added into a Telegram group by Tang Soon Wah, who was identified as one of the scam syndicate’s leaders.
Tang offered to fly them to Cambodia to view the scam compound, which was a five-storey building.
Security guards were stationed outside the compound.
Both men returned to Malaysia to consider the job offer, and flew to Cambodia on Nov 21, 2024.
Yip started work on Nov 22, 2024, where he had to pretend to be a bank officer to cheat Singaporeans.
He was promised US$1,800 (S$2,333) in cryptocurrency a month, and a 1 per cent commission from victims he duped.
But Yip was an abject failure at the job.
Despite following the script provided by the syndicate, he could not cheat anyone.
He tried again the next day, and failed again.
On Nov 23, 2024, Tang fired Yip, after deleting their messages. Court documents did not state how Yip returned to Malaysia.
He was arrested in Singapore on Sept 9, 2025, and was one of the 12 people charged as alleged members of the syndicate.
Nine of them – Deon Tan Ke Yuan, 25; Lester Ng Jing Hai, 29; Christy Neo Wei En, 29; Heiqal Lee, 30; Tay Jun Xiang, 32; Ng Wei Kang, 33; Zachary Lee Jia An, 35; Melvin Tan Wenzheng, 35 and Lau Haoxiang, 39 – are Singaporeans.
The remaining two are Malaysian Muhamad Asyraf Anuar, 29, and Filipina De Villar Rizalyn Panganiban, 34.
They were arrested during a joint operation on Sept 9, 2025 by the police and the Cambodian National Police.
Despite the overall drop in scam cases in 2025, the number of government official impersonation scam cases more than doubled from 1,504 cases in 2024 to 3,363 in 2025.
It was the fifth most common scam type in 2025.
For being part of an organised crime group, an offender can be fined up to $100,000, jailed up to five years, or both. - The Straits Times/ANN
