The Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) of the Singapore Police Force (SPF), together with the Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) of the Royal Malaysia Police (RMP), crippled an Internet love scam syndicate. This is the second successful joint collaboration between the two law enforcement agencies this year.
On 17 May 2021, a 41-year-old female victim reported a case of Internet love scam with the SPF, after suffering a loss of about S$28,000. On a first occasion in March 2021, the victim befriended a male subject on Facebook and developed a relationship with him. The subject purportedly claimed to be running an oil rig project in Ukraine and promised to marry the victim in Singapore once the project was completed. In May 2021, the subject purportedly claimed that a machinery in the oil rig had malfunctioned due to a power failure but he was unable to access his bank account to buy a new machinery to continue with the project. Subsequently, he purportedly pleaded with the victim to extend a loan to him. The victim agreed and transferred a sum of S$12,000 to a Singapore bank account provided by the subject. On a second occasion, the victim relayed the earlier occurrence to another unknown person whom she had befriended on Facebook and was informed that she had been scammed and promised to help her get her money back. The victim was subsequently cheated into transferring another sum of about S$16,000 to another two Singapore bank accounts provided by the second subject as a form of payment for the fund recovery services. The victim felt suspicious about the entire incident and decided to lodge a police report.
Through close collaboration with CCID/RMP, a syndicate believed to be involved in the case was identified and established to be based in Malaysia. On 14 September 2021, officers from the CCID/RMP conducted a raid at an apartment in Selangor, Malaysia and arrested a 22-year-old male Nigerian for his suspected involvement in Internet love scam. During the raid, multiple laptops, mobile phones, Singapore ATM/debit cards and credit card were seized as case exhibits.
In Singapore, a 66-year-old woman was arrested and three other women, aged between 31 and 62, were investigated for money-laundering. This syndicate is believed to be responsible for at least seven cases in Singapore involving about S$37,000 and a case in Malaysia involving about RM210,000 in losses. Investigations against the four women are ongoing. Anyone found guilty of acquiring or transferring criminal benefits under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Offences (Confiscation of Benefits) Act, faces up to 10 years' imprisonment, or a fine up to S$500,000, or to both.
Director CAD, Mr David Chew, said, “We will continue to work closely with CCID to disrupt the activities of cross border internet love scam syndicates. These syndicates often make use of Singapore bank accounts to launder their illegal proceeds. We will work with our foreign counterparts to detect and detain these criminal syndicates wherever they choose to operate and act swiftly to arrest their money mules to deprive them of their criminal proceeds. I would like to thank Director CCID, Commissioner Dato Mohd Kamarudin Bin Md Din and his officers from the Intelligence and Operations Division of CCID for their strong support and leadership in fighting online scams that affects both our citizens.”
Members of the public are advised to be careful when befriending strangers online. They should also be wary when asked to send money to bank accounts of people whom they do not know or receive, retain or remit money from persons they have never met before. The Police would also like to warn members of the pubic that it is a serious offence to knowingly relinquished a bank account for others to use in the commission of an offence. For more information on scams, members of the public can visit scamalert.sg or call the Anti-Scam Hotline at 1800-722-6688. Anyone with information on such scams may call the Police hotline at 1800-255 0000 or submit information online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness.
Exhibits seized during CCID’s raid (Photos credit – CCID RMP)
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
16 September 2021 @ 5:00 PM