A 23-year-old Singaporean woman is the first person to be charged under the Payment Services Act 2019, for carrying on a business of providing payment services without a licence.
Investigations revealed that between 27 and 28 February 2020, the woman had allegedly provided a digital payment token service by receiving at least 13 fraudulent fund transfers amounting to S$3,350 in her bank account, which was then used to purchase Bitcoin. These transactions were done on the instruction of an unknown person in return for a commission. The monies deposited in her bank account turned out to be proceeds of crime from victims of online scams.
The woman does not have a licence to carry on a business of providing any types of payment services in Singapore and is not an exempt payment service provider under the Payment Service Act 2019.
The woman will be charged in court on 24 June 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 licence unless he is exempted under the Act. For individuals, the offence is punishable with a fine of up to $125,000 or imprisonment for a term of up to 3 years or both.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
23 June 2020 @ 3:35 PM