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A 23-year-old Malaysian man will be charged in court on 28 May 2026 for his suspected involvement in an investment scam and facilitating scam syndicate to collect cash. 

On 9 May 2026, the Police received a report of an investment scam. Preliminary investigations revealed that the victim had chanced upon an online trading link on Instagram and was subsequently invited by scammers to join a WhatsApp group, where she was instructed to download an application and create an account to start investing. The victim was subsequently told to transfer $1,000 and $1,999 for her first and second investment respectively. Thereafter, she handed over $5,000 in cash to an unknown person for her third investment, and was told that the money was meant for topping up her online investment account. The victim only realised it was a scam when she was unable to withdraw her “investment” and was asked to deposit more funds to withdraw her “investment”. 

Through follow-up investigations, officers from Ang Mo Kio Police Division conducted an operation and arrested the man on 26 May 2026. The man allegedly attempted to collect more cash amounting to more than $28,000 from the same victim. Preliminary investigations revealed that the man had been tasked by unknown persons, believed to be members of a transnational scam syndicate, to collect cash from scam victims and hand them over to other unknown persons in Singapore. Ten company staff passes and several company documents, believed to be forged, were seized as case exhibits.  

The man will be charged with the offence of assisting another to retain benefits from criminal conduct under Section 51(1)(a) and punishable under Section 51(5) of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act 1992 read with Section 109 and Section 108B of the Penal Code 1871. The offence carries an imprisonment term of up to 10 years, a fine not exceeding $500,000, or both. 

Under the Facility Restriction Framework, individuals involved in such mule-related offences – whether they are under investigation and assessed to be at risk, or have been warned, issued with composition sums, prosecuted, or convicted – may face restrictions on banking services and mobile line subscriptions to prevent further facilitation of scams.

The Police would like to remind members of the public to be cautious when asked to download any applications or make investments. Members of the public are reminded to: 

• Never transfer cash, jewellery or other valuables to unknown persons whose identity has not been verified
  
  
• Never leave money or valuables at a location to facilitate subsequent collection.
  
  
• Never share the screen of your device or disclose login credentials to anyone.

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.

Annex

Company staff passes seized as case exhibits