The Police have arrested a 44-year-old Malaysian man for his suspected involvement in a case of government official impersonation scam (“GOIS”).
On 30 August 2025 at about 12.30pm, the Police received a call for assistance from United Overseas Bank (UOB) regarding a suspicious over-the-counter cash cheque withdrawal request by a man at one of their branches. Through swift follow up investigations and close collaboration with vigilant bank staff, officers from the Anti-Scam Command (ASCom) and Central Police Division established the identity of the man and arrested him within 30 minutes of the report.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the man had allegedly attempted to facilitate cash cheque encashments amounting to S$180,000 pursuant to a report of GOIS involving the impersonation of a government official purportedly from the Ministry of Law. On 29 August 2025, a 65-year-old victim was allegedly told that she had been implicated in a case of money-laundering and was required to consolidate and transfer all her funds from various bank accounts to her UOB account for “investigation purposes”. She had also been allegedly assured that the funds will be returned once investigations completed. The victim complied with the scammers' instructions and transferred close to $40,000 to an unknown OCBC account and purportedly handed over five pre-signed blank cheques to an unknown person who posed as an investigations officer on 30 August 2025 in the vicinity of her residence.
Investigations further revealed that, the 44-year-old man was instructed by the scam syndicate to receive one of the victim’s pre-signed cheques from an unknown person and attempted to encash the cheque at UOB Raffles Place, before UOB alerted the Police. A cash cheque and two unknown Malaysian UOB ATM cards found in his possession were found in his possession and seized as case exhibits.
It was revealed that the man was allegedly recruited by an overseas scam syndicate a few days ago to collect and deliver cash in Singapore.
The man will be charged in court on 1 September 2025 with the offence of abetment by conspiracy to fraudulently use as genuine a forged document purported to be a valuable security under Section 471 read with Section 467 and Section 116 and Section 108B of the Penal Code 1871, and fraudulent possession under Section 35(1) of Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act 1906. The offence under the Penal Code 1871 carries an imprisonment term of up to 15 years, and a fine, while the offence under the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act 1906 carries an imprisonment term not exceeding a year, a fine not exceeding $3,000, or both.
The Police take a serious stance against any person who may be involved in scams, and perpetrators will be dealt with in accordance with the law. The Police would like to remind members of the public never to transfer monies, hand monies or other valuables to any unknown persons or persons whose identity you did not verify.
The Police would also like to inform members of the public that Singapore Government officials will never ask members of the public to do the following do these things over a phone call:
- Ask you to transfer money;
- Ask you to disclose banking log-in details;
- Ask you to install mobile apps from unofficial app stores; and
- Ask you to hand over any pre-signed cash cheques to anyone
- Transfer your call to Police
If you have any information relating to such crimes or if you are in doubt, please call the Police Hotline at 1800-255-0000, or submit it online at www.police.gov.sg/i-witness. All information will be kept strictly confidential. If you require urgent Police assistance, please dial ‘999’. For more information on scams, members of the public can visit www.scamshield.gov.sg or call the 24/7 ScamShield Helpline at 1799.
Case exhibits seized
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
31 August 2025 @ 5:10 PM