Scam victim arrested after being duped by scammers into helping them scam someone else out of $40,000
A 27-year-old victim of a scam was arrested after being duped into helping to scam another person out of $40,000.
The police had received a report on April 9 at about 11.50am from the 20-year-old man who had lost the amount to a scam.
He had been deceived by scammers posing as Chinese government officials, who claimed his identity had been misused in China and he had been implicated in a transnational money-laundering syndicate.
Through follow-up investigations, officers from the Anti-Scam Command and Clementi Police Division established the identity of the 27-year-old suspect, who had allegedly assisted in collecting money for the scammers.
He was arrested on the same day.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the suspect, who is in Singapore on a Student's Pass, had himself fallen victim to the same scam. He is believed to have been manipulated into assisting the scammers and thought he was helping with official investigations.
He is being investigated for cheating as well as cheating by personation.
Cheating carries an imprisonment term of up to 10 years and a fine while cheating by personation carries an imprisonment term of up to five years, a fine or both.
