Scam victim told by fake gov't official to hand over $69k for 'investigative purposes', 3 M'sians nabbed
Three Malaysian men, aged between 28 and 30, were arrested on Aug 15 for their involvement in several cases of government official impersonation scam.
The police received two reports of a scam involving the impersonation of an official from the police and Monetary Authority of Singapore between Aug 6 and 9.
In both cases, the two victims were told that they had been implicated in an offence and were instructed to surrender funds for investigative purposes.
Following the scammers' instructions, the victims handed over more than $25,000 and $69,000 in cash to the 28-year-old first suspect and 30-year-old second suspect respectively.
The men acted as cash mules.
Further investigations revealed that the $69,000 was in turn handed to the 30-year-old third suspect.
The second and third suspects are known to be acquainted with each other and had allegedly travelled to Singapore together on previous occasions to collect and deliver cash on behalf of the scam syndicate.
Through extensive ground enquiries and follow-up investigations, officers from the Anti-Scam Command established the identities of the three men and arrested the trio on Aug 15.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the they are believed to be involved in other similar cases and had allegedly been tasked to collect cash from scam victims.
On Aug 16, the second and third suspect were charged with abetment by conspiracy to assist another to retain benefits from criminal conduct.
The offence carries an imprisonment term of up to 10 years, a fine not exceeding $500,000 or both.
The 28-year-old was charged with assisting another to retain benefits of drug dealing or benefits from criminal conduct, which carries a fine not exceeding $50,000, imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or both.
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