Suspected of acting as a money mule in an impersonation scam, a 34-year-old Malaysian man was arrested within 10 days of committing the crime. He is the 17th Malaysian national to be arrested since March this year for allegedly assisting scam syndicates in collecting cash or valuable items.
According to a report by Lianhe Zaobao, police revealed that in recent times there have been ongoing cases of Malaysians coming to Singapore to help scam syndicates collect cash and valuables from victims.
The Singapore Police Force issued a statement on the 24th, saying that authorities received a report on April 14 regarding a scam involving impersonation of government officials.
A victim received a call that day from someone claiming to be an employee of telecommunications company M1, stating that she had signed a two-year phone line contract and would be charged for it. When the victim said she had not signed up for such services, the call was transferred to someone claiming to be an officer from the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The scammer then told the victim that she was under investigation for a money laundering case, creating a sense of urgency and fear. The victim, following the instructions given, handed S$21,000 in cash to a man for “investigation” on the same day. The victim later realized she had been scammed and reported the incident to the police.
The Anti-Scam Command and the Clementi Police Division subsequently launched an investigation and identified the collector as a 34-year-old Malaysian man, who was arrested on the 24th.
The man will be charged in court on the 25th. According to Section 51 of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act, anyone convicted of assisting another to retain benefits from criminal conduct may be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to S$500,000, or both.