Following a three-day operation conducted from 24 to 26 September 2018, officers from Central Police Division arrested 26 men and 10 women, aged between 17 and 67 for their suspected involvement in scams as well as loansharking activities.
Eight of the suspects are believed to have carried out various scams such as online purchase scams advertising the sale of Universal Studio Singapore tickets and electronic gadgets, as well as investment scams in which victims responded to online advertisement promising quick returns. The victims in these scams had lost a total of $56,000.
17 of the suspects have also allowed their bank accounts to be used to facilitate various scams. These include online purchase scams where scammers advertised the sale of Universal Studios Singapore tickets, NTUC vouchers as well as electronic gadgets on Carousell.
The remaining 19 suspects are believed to have either opened bank accounts and given away their ATM cards and Personal Identification Numbers to loansharks to facilitate their unlicensed moneylending businesses, or are believed to be runners who had carried out Automated Teller Machine (ATM) transfers on behalf of loansharks.
Investigations are ongoing.
Any persons found guilty of cheating under Section 420 of the Penal Code, shall be punished with an imprisonment term which may extend up to 10 years, and shall also be liable to a fine. Any person found guilty of money laundering under Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act, shall be punished with an imprisonment term which may extend up to 10 years, fine up to $500,000, or both.
Under the Moneylenders’ Act (Revised Edition 2010), when a bank account or ATM card of any person is used to facilitate moneylending by an unlicensed moneylender, that person is presumed to have assisted in the carrying on the business of unlicensed moneylending.
• First-time offenders found guilty of assisting in the business of unlicensed moneylending may be fined between $30,000 and $300,000, be imprisoned for a term of up to four years and shall also be liable to be punished with caning of up to six strokes.
• First-time offenders found guilty of acting on behalf of an unlicensed moneylender, committing or attempting to commit any acts of harassment shall be punished with imprisonment for a term of up to five years, a fine of between $5,000 and $50,000, and shall also be liable to caning of between three and six strokes.
To avoid being accomplice to crimes, the public should always reject requests from others to use their bank accounts or mobile phone lines as they could be held accountable if these accounts are linked to illegal transactions.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
27 September 2018 @ 4:05 PM