Another M'sian arrested on return to S'pore for helping syndicate collect money and valuables from scam victim
A woman was duped by scammers into handing over valuables and $4,400 to a Malaysian man, who was later arrested.
The police received a report on Sept 28 about the scam involving the impersonation of a government official purportedly from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
The victim was told her bank account was involved in money-laundering.
She was then contacted by different individuals who claimed to be from the MAS and was instructed to surrender her money and valuables for the purpose of investigations.
Following the scammers' instructions, the woman handed over $4,400 in cash and valuables worth $2,000 to an unknown person.
Through extensive ground enquiries and follow-up investigations, officers from Tanglin Police Division and the Anti-Scam Command established the identity of the unknown person as the 37-year-old Malaysian.
He was arrested when he re-entered Singapore on Nov 14.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the man had collected the cash and valuables from the victim before leaving Singapore shortly after. The cash and valuables were then handed over to another person in Malaysia.
The man is believed to be involved in other similar cases and facilitating the operations of the scam syndicate.
He was will be charged in court on Nov 15 with the offence of 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 up to 500,000 or both.
The police said they have observed a rising trend of Malaysians travelling to Singapore to assist syndicates in collecting cash, gold and valuables from scam victims.
