SINGAPORE: When Indian national Vanjur Maideen Syedabthahir wanted to help his friends back home secure work in Singapore, he spoke to a “famous film producer” who said he could help them secure work permits for a small fee.
The six men transferred more than S$14,000 and were each given official-looking documents, purportedly from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).
The victims, aged between 21 and 49, thought they had landed five work permits for jobs, including at J&T Express Singapore, and one S Pass.
They were all forged documents.
The Straits Times, working with Tamil Murasu, tracked down the alleged mastermind behind the scam and uncovered a web of deceit with multiple victims.
The matter is being investigated by MOM for possible offences under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act and the Employment Agencies Act.
The police also confirmed a report had been made and investigations are ongoing.
ST understands that the alleged scammer – a person called Abdul Raheem – is already being investigated for a similar scam in 2025 involving another group of foreign nationals.
Vanjur, who is in Singapore to seek help, said an acquaintance had introduced him to Raheem, who claimed he could secure employment for his friends and relatives.
Raheem gave Vanjur, who has worked in Singapore since 2013, a copy of his pink Singapore NRIC, and told him about his status as a film producer.
“He explicitly told me, ‘Trust me completely, I am a Singaporean. Do not pass me any money by cash as that could look suspicious; instead, deposit all the funds directly into a bank account’,” Vanjur said, speaking in Tamil.
Raheem wanted $4,000 for an S Pass and $3,000 for each work permit, a total of $19,000, as his fees to secure work for the Indian nationals.
Between March 6 and June 9, 2026, the men and their families paid more than $14,000 via PayNow and direct ATM cash deposits.
The funds were transferred into accounts which Raheem said belonged to his wife.
The sum Raheem wanted included a $4,270 “training course invoice” dated June 8. Five of the men were told they each needed to pay $854 to complete a training course before their work permits could be issued.
“Raheem told us that MOM rules have changed, and now applicants have to complete a course and get a certificate so that, as a final step, the work pass can be issued,” said Vanjur.
Fake documents
On June 12, 2026, Raheem sent Vanjur, who was in India, digital copies of four Training Employment Pass (TEP) In-Principle Approvals (IPAs) via WhatsApp.
The documents, issued under the names of four applicants, instructed them to prepare to fly to Singapore by the first week of July.
Suspicion arose when Vanjur checked against MOM’s online portal to verify the Foreign Identification Numbers (FINs) on the IPAs. The FINs did not exist.
When confronted, Raheem dismissed it as a system error and told Vanjur to meet an associate called “Kumar” in Chennai, India.
Vanjur met Kumar that same evening. Kumar insisted the passes were genuine, claiming the original copies were with Raheem.
He then demanded that Vanjur settle the balance of about $5,000 before the original documents could be handed over.
Unconvinced and desperate for answers, Vanjur contacted the Singapore Consulate-General in Chennai and sent MOM an e-mail.
On June 16, 2026, MOM’s Work Pass Division confirmed that there were no records of any TEP applications submitted for the men.
When confronted with the MOM reply, Raheem turned aggressive, accusing Vanjur’s family of a lack of trust and reiterating his demand for the balance before releasing any documents.
The forged papers declared the passes were “approved”, with jobs for the men at J&T Express.
But there was a glaring error on one of the IPAs dated June 12, 2026. A note on the same letter instructed applicants to ensure their TEP was issued before April 28, 2026.
Vanjur filed a police report in Singapore on June 27.
Hidden identities
Raheem, also known in his NRIC shown to Vanjur as Abdul Raheem Lailathul Sultanil Arebeen, 37, had legally changed his name to A.R. Sai.
When tracked down, Raheem told reporters over the phone that he was not involved in any scam. He claimed he was a middleman who introduced the Indian nationals to an associate of his named “Kumar”.
Raheem, who describes himself as a film producer, actor and singer, has a criminal history.
A 2009 newspaper report stated that Raheem, then a 20-year-old, was sentenced to probation and community service for robbing and hitting a cabby.
A 2019 Malaysian police report named Raheem as a suspect who allegedly ran away with RM30,000 (S$9,400) worth of camera equipment, which he had borrowed.
The Malaysian police report stated Raheem’s NRIC number, which is the same as A.R. Sai’s identification number.
Raheem claimed his name has been “A.R. Sai” since birth, and that he has never used the name Raheem.
But his wife contradicted her husband’s claim. She told the team in a telephone interview that he had legally changed his name to A.R. Sai.
When asked about the money which was deposited into a bank account of hers, she said the funds were simply loan repayments from her domestic helper.
A.R. Sai’s associate “Kumar” was later found to be an Indian national operating under the real name of J.K. Shakti Balaji. He has been uncontactable so far.
Financial ruin
For the six men from rural Tamil Nadu, the promise of a job in Singapore was supposed to be a ticket out of generational poverty.
Instead, it has left their families financially ruined, facing a mountain of debt.
The victims belong to a tight-knit community of livestock herders, auto-rickshaw drivers and daily wage earners whose monthly income rarely exceeds 10,000 rupees (S$134) to 15,000 rupees.
When promised a monthly salary of nearly 100,000 rupees ($1,300, including allowances) as warehouse assistants in Singapore, the families pooled every asset they had to raise the required fees.
To raise the money demanded by the scammer, the families made huge sacrifices by selling ancestral livestock, pawning their daughters’ wedding jewellery and borrowing from high-interest local moneylenders.
The heaviest burden has fallen on Vanjur, who was merely trying to lift six young men from his village out of poverty by securing genuine employment through a man claiming to be a local Singaporean film producer.
The victims include his 20-year-old son, Sufi.
“My father is nearing 60 and was almost ready to retire,” Sufi said, speaking about the disruption to his life.
“He encouraged me to pursue my higher studies, and I was all set to do my MBA. But after this incident, my family has asked me to hold my higher studies for at least two years and go to work.”
For Sufi, it is now a quest to restore his father’s honour.
“Our father had a very good name in our village and family,” Sufi said.
“But now, people look down on us. I need to retrieve not only the money lost, but also (others’) respect for my attha (father).”
Vanjur and Sufi travelled to Singapore and made a police report on June 27, 2026. They were called by MOM for an official inquiry on July 15.
“Everyone in our village works hard just to survive,” a relative of one of the victims in India said in a video interview, holding back tears.
“We believed sending our boys abroad would finally clear our family debts. Now, the money is gone, our assets are gone, and we are facing immense pressure from local lenders.”
Vanjur remains resilient, leaning heavily on his trust in Singapore’s legal system.
“I worked in Singapore for many years, and I know the Government is incredibly strict against fraud,” he said.
“We have provided all bank transaction records and WhatsApp logs to the police. I am confident that justice will be served and our community’s dignity will be restored.”
Stephanie Chok, executive director of the Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics, said the organisation has encountered cases involving migrant workers who arrive in Singapore to learn there are actually no jobs for them, even when they have secured real IPAs.
There have also been cases of workers finding themselves deployed in sectors other than those stated in their IPAs, and other declarations such as salary, agency fees or even addresses are not as promised or inaccurate.
But cases involving fake IPAs are rare, the non-governmental organisation said.
Non-profit Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) said its call centre had more than 26,000 conversations in 2025, of which 1,300 were IPA-related issues, ranking third on the types of cases handled on the hotline, said Ethan Guo, TWC2’s executive director.
There are many IPA issues raised by migrant workers, including IPA fraud.
A spokesman for J&T Express Singapore said it has not been made aware of the case.
The spokesman added: “We understand that forged IPAs are sometimes used to lend an appearance of legitimacy to fraudulent job offers, including through the unauthorised use of a legitimate company’s name.
“All legitimate recruitment for J&T Express Singapore is conducted exclusively through JobStreet, FastJobs, MyCareersFuture, our corporate website and official social media platforms.”
MOM said prospective workers should accept job offers only through licensed employment agents.
Before travelling to Singapore, they should verify the authenticity of their IPA letter via MOM’s Check Work Pass and Application Status e-service.
Workers can also check whether an agent is licensed via the Employment Agent directory on the MOM website.
Workers who encounter issues related to the authenticity of job offers or work pass documents should contact MOM for assistance. - The Straits Times/ANN
