SINGAPORE: A 16-year-old is among 230 people being investigated for their suspected roles in scams involving reported losses of about S$9 million, following a two-week police operation.
The 159 men and 71 women are suspected of being scammers or money mules, said the police in a statement on Thursday (July 2).
Aged between 16 and 77, the suspects are believed to have been involved in more than 713 scams, including e-commerce scams, friend impersonation scams, job scams, government official impersonation scams, investment scams and rental scams.
The operation was conducted by officers from the Commercial Affairs Department and the seven police land divisions between June 18 and July 1.
The suspects are being investigated for the offences of cheating, money laundering and providing payment services without a licence.
If found guilty of cheating, they can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.
Those convicted of money laundering can be jailed for up to 10 years, fined up to $500,000, or both.
The offence of carrying on a business to provide any type of payment service in Singapore without a licence carries a fine of up to $125,000, a jail term of up to three years, or both.
Scammers and scam syndicate members or recruiters will face mandatory caning of six to 24 strokes if convicted.
Scam mules who enable scammers by laundering scam proceeds, providing SIM cards or providing Singpass credentials could face up to 12 strokes of the cane.
The police said in the statement that anyone found to be linked to such crimes will be held accountable.
Those involved in mule-related offences may face restrictions on banking services and mobile line subscriptions to prevent further facilitation of scams, the police added.
The number of scam cases fell from more than 50,000 in 2024, to 37,308 in 2025, the police said in the release of their annual scam statistics in February 2026.
The amount lost to scammers also fell, from $1.1 billion in 2024, to $913.1 million in 2025.
E-commerce scams were the most common scam type in 2025, with 6,703 cases reported and $16.7 million lost.
For more information on scams, visit www.scamshield.gov.sg or call the ScamShield helpline on 1799.
Anyone with information on such scams may call the police hotline on 1800-255-0000 or submit information online at www.police.gov.sg/i-witness
All information will be kept strictly confidential, said the police. - The Straits Times/ANN
