A 40-year-old Singaporean man will be charged under the Payment Services Act 2019, for carrying out a business of providing payment services without a licence.
Investigations revealed that between April 2020 and May 2020, the man had allegedly provided cross-border money transfer services by receiving fraudulent fund transfers on over 30 different occasions amounting to more than $200,000 in his bank account for the purpose of carrying out payment transactions to an overseas bank account. The man claimed that he was assisting his friend to remit money overseas for a commission.
The man does not have a licence to carry on a business of providing any type of payment service in Singapore, nor was he an exempted payment service provider under the Payment Services Act 2019.
The man will be charged in court on 26 November 2020. Under Section 5 of the Payment Services Act 2019, it is an offence for anyone to carry on a business of providing any type of payment service in Singapore without a license unless he is exempted under the Act. For individuals, the offence is punishable with a fine not exceeding $125,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both.
The Police would like to caution individuals to be wary of such offers to perform bank transactions for monetary benefits. Legitimate businesses will not require the job seekers to utilise their own bank accounts to receive monies on the businesses’ behalf. This is a common ruse used by scammers to lure individuals to carry out illicit payment transfers on their behalf. To avoid becoming involved in money laundering activities, members of the public should always reject requests by others to use their bank accounts.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
25 November 2020 @ 2:25 PM