Suspected of working as a “runner” in three scams involving impersonation of government officials by collecting gold jewelry and over S$30,000 (RM97,900) in cash from victims for fraudsters, a 22-year-old Malaysian man was arrested and charged in court on the 17th.
According to Lianhe Zaobao, the Singapore Police Force issued a statement on the 16th, saying that police received reports on the 11th and 14th of this month regarding three cases of impersonation scams, in which scammers posed as representatives of the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
In these cases, victims were informed they were involved in money laundering accounts and were instructed to withdraw cash from their bank accounts and surrender it to “investigators” as part of an ongoing investigation. The victims subsequently handed over gold jewelry and more than S$32,000 (RM104,500) in cash to an unidentified man.
After investigation, officers from the Anti-Scam Command identified the 22-year-old man and arrested him on Thursday as he entered Singapore. The police did not disclose when he left the country or from which checkpoint he entered.
Preliminary investigations suggest that the man is believed to be involved in several similar cases, where he received instructions from unknown individuals to help collect money and then pass it on to others. Police also seized more than S$5,500 (RM17,900) in cash and jewelry from him.
The man will be charged in court with assisting another person to retain benefits from criminal conduct. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years' imprisonment, a fine not exceeding S$500,000 (RM1,632,100), or both.