Over 1,800 arrested in transnational crackdown on scams: 106 nabbed in Singapore
A month-long anti-scam involving the Singapore Police Force's (SPF) Anti-Scam Command (ASCom) has resulted in the arrest of over 1,800 individuals across multiple countries.
Victims of the scam cases have collectively lost more than $289 million (US$225 million), the police said in a statement on June 4.
Operation Frontier+ took place between April 28 and May 28 and involved more than 2,700 officers from Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, the Maldives, Thailand, and Macao.
An additional 33,900 individuals, aged between 14 and 81, are being investigated for their suspected involvement in scam activities.
Those arrested or investigated are believed to be linked to over 9,200 scam cases.
The cases span a variety of fraud types, including government official impersonation scams, investment scams, rental scams, and internet love scams.
In addition to the arrests, more than 32,600 bank accounts suspected of being linked to scams were detected and frozen, with $26.2 million seized.
In Singapore, the operation led to the investigation of 545 individuals and the arrest of 106.
The police said these suspects are connected to more than 1,300 local scam cases, which resulted in losses amounting to $39.3 million.
More than S$7.69 million was seized from 714 frozen bank accounts.
The ongoing investigations include police looking into offences such as abetment to cheating and unlawful disclosure of password or access code in relation to the national digital identity service.
The police also noted the recovery of scam-related funds through cross-border collaboration.
In two cases of Chinese services impersonation scams, victims were instructed to transfer $25,000 and $45,000 to local bank accounts.
It was discovered that part of the funds had been transferred to bank accounts in Malaysia.
Working with Malaysia's National Scam Response Centre, Singapore's Anti-Scam Centre recovered more than $19,000.
SPF's Commercial Affairs Department Director David Chew underscored the importance of international collaboration in tackling scams.
"Scam syndicates operate without geographical boundaries, using sophisticated methods to target victims globally," he said.
"A transnational threat requires a transnational response.
"Operation Frontier+ demonstrates the power of international cooperation in addressing this issue, and by combining our resources, we are stronger together."
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