Woman duped into surrendering over $12,000 and valuables to scammers, Malaysian man arrested
A 36-year-old Malaysian man was charged on Jan 28 for collecting cash and jewellery amounting to at least $122,000 from scam victims in Singapore.
The police received a report on Jan 5 from a woman who was allegedly contacted by scammers. She was told that she had purchased an insurance policy and her personal information had been misused.
The call was transferred to another person purportedly from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, who informed her that she was suspected to be involved in money laundering activities.
The woman was subsequently directed to surrender cash amounting to more than $12,000 and valuables for the purpose of investigations.
Through extensive ground enquiries and follow-up investigations, officers from the Anti-Scam Command established the identity of a man who had collected cash and valuables from the woman and arrested him on Jan 26.
Prior to his arrest, Yeap Chong Siah had collected an assortment of valuables from another scam victim. An assortment of valuables was recovered and mobile phones were seized as case exhibits.
Preliminary investigations revealed that Yeap is believed to be involved in other similar cases and was facilitating the operations of a scam syndicate.
He was charged with the offence of abetment by conspiracy to assist another to retain benefits from criminal conduct, which carries an imprisonment term of up to ten years, a fine not exceeding $500,000, or both.
The police said they continue to observe an increasing trend of Malaysians travelling to Singapore to assist scam syndicates in collecting cash, gold and valuables from scam victims.
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