Two M’sians arrested after trying to collect over $120k in gold bars and jewellery from scam victims
Two Malaysians have been arrested in Singapore for their suspected involvement in a government official impersonation scam.
The 27-year-old man and 34-year-old woman are believed to be linked to the same scam syndicate.
The arrests bring the number of Malaysians detained since March 2026 for facilitating scam syndicates in collecting valuables to 19, the police said in a news release on April 28.
Man arrested before collecting $100k in gold bars
Police said they received information on April 27 that the man had entered Singapore to collect cash and gold bars from a scam victim.
Officers from the Anti-Scam Command tracked him down and arrested him within four hours.
Investigations showed he was on his way to collect about $100,000 worth of gold bars from a 71-year-old victim.
The victim had received a call from someone claiming to be from Simba Telecom, who said his personal details had been misused to open a bank account linked to criminal activities.
When the victim denied having signed up for such an account, the call was transferred to scammers posing as representatives from the Ministry of Law, who falsely told him he was under investigation for money laundering.
He was instructed to prove that his funds were clean and untainted. Following the scammers’ instructions, he purchased around $100,000 worth of gold bars.
The victim was on his way to hand over the gold bars to the suspect when police intervened and prevented the loss.
Woman arrested, jewellery recovered
In a separate case linked to the same syndicate, officers identified the 34-year-old woman as a mule tasked with collecting cash, gold and valuables from victims.
After collecting the items, she would bring them back to Malaysia.
During her arrest, an assortment of jewellery belonging to a 54-year-old scam victim was recovered.
The victim had received a call from someone claiming to be from Standard Chartered Bank, who told her that her particulars had been used in money laundering activities and that she was under investigation.
The call was then transferred to scammers impersonating police officers.
They falsely led her to believe she was under investigation and instructed her to hand over $24,000 worth of valuables and jewellery to the woman.
The items were successfully recovered during the April 27 operation.
Both suspects will be charged on April 29 with assisting another to retain benefits from criminal conduct.
If convicted, they face up to 10 years’ jail, a fine of up to $500,000, or both.
The police said they are seeing a rising trend of Malaysian nationals entering Singapore to assist scam syndicates in collecting cash and valuables from victims.
They added that offenders linked to scam syndicates may face caning in addition to jail time and fines.
Members of the public are reminded not to:
- Transfer cash, jewellery or other valuables to unknown persons whose identity has not been verified
- Leave money or valuables at a location for collection
- Share the screen of their device or disclose login credentials to unknown parties
Singapore Government officials will never:
- Ask you to transfer money over the phone
- Request your banking login details
- Instruct you to install apps from unofficial app stores
- Transfer your call to the police
If you have any information on such crimes, call the police hotline at 1800-255-0000 or submit information online. For urgent assistance, dial 999.
For more information on scams, visit www.scamshield.gov.sg or call the ScamShield Helpline at 1799.
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