The Police have arrested nine men, aged between 17 and 25, for their suspected involvement in various scams such as China Officials Impersonation Scams (COIS), rental scams and bank phishing scams.
These nine men are alleged to have sold or rented their bank accounts to criminal syndicates for as much as $600 per bank account. All of the men are believed to have cheated the banks into opening bank accounts before handing over their ATM cards and iBanking credentials to the criminal syndicates. Three men are alleged to have sold their SingPass credentials to criminal syndicates to create new bank accounts.
All nine men will be charged in court on 25 April 2023 with various offences such as cheating, facilitating unauthorised access to computer material and unauthorised disclosure of access code. The offence of cheating under section 417 of the Penal Code 1871 carries an imprisonment term of up to three years, a fine or both. For first-time offenders, the offence of facilitating unauthorised access to computer material under section 3 of the Computer Misuse Act 1993 carries an imprisonment term not exceeding two years, a fine or both. For first-time offenders, the offence of unauthorised disclosure of access code under section 8 of the Computer Misuse Act 1993 carries an imprisonment term not exceeding three years, a fine or both.
The Police take a serious view of persons who may be involved in scams and frauds, and perpetrators will be dealt with in accordance with the law.
For more information on scams, members of the public can visit scamalert.sg or call the Anti-Scam Helpline 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.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
24 April 2023 @ 7:35 PM