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 two transnational job scam syndicates based in Johor and Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia.
Since May 2021, the SPF has seen an increase in reports from local victims of job scams. In such cases, the syndicate would post job advertisements offering quick cash on different social media platforms or chat applications. The job would require victims, who were mostly job seekers, to assist in improving the sales of online platforms by ordering goods or completing a certain number of tasks such as liking TikTok or YouTube videos. Once the initial tasks were completed, the victims would be told that their account could be upgraded to obtain higher commissions. The victims would subsequently be instructed to pay for the goods by transferring funds to different bank accounts. In return, the victims would be promised reimbursements of the sums that they had paid and between 5% and 15% of the commissions.
The scammers would purportedly first reimburse the victims and pay them the agreed commissions in order to convince them that it was a legitimate job. However, the scammers would then purportedly induce them to deposit increasingly larger sums of money to earn more commission as well as to complete tasks of higher monetary value. At this point, the scammer would promise commissions only after a certain number of tasks had been completed. Consequently, payments were allegedly delayed or withheld, and the victims would only realise that they had fallen prey to a scam when they did not receive the promised reimbursements and commissions.
Following extensive collaboration and sharing of information between SPF and RMP, the SPF and RMP planned a joint operation to dismantle such scam syndicates. Officers from CCID raided an apartment in Johor and KL in one such raid and arrested five Malaysian men, aged between 23 and 32 years old, and five Malaysian women, aged between 21 and 28 years old, on 22 October 2021. This scam syndicate is believed to be responsible for reports targeting more than 390 victims of job scams reported in Singapore involving S$5 million. Preliminary investigations revealed that the group had targeted Singaporean and Malaysian victims and laundered their criminal proceeds in Malaysia.
Simultaneously, officers from CAD and the seven Land Divisions also arrested 12 men and two women, aged between 17 and 44 years old, for their suspected involvement in these job scams. Preliminary investigations revealed that they had allegedly facilitated the syndicate’s crimes by carrying out bank transfers, funds withdrawals, or relinquishing their bank accounts to the scam syndicates for monetary gains.
Director CAD, Mr David Chew said, “Job scams continue to be a serious crime concern that targets job seekers who can ill-afford such losses. This transnational crime syndicate operating in two locations in KL and Johor, Malaysia thought that they could defraud their victims with impunity. They were wrong. The Singapore Police Force will continue to collaborate closely with our Malaysian counterparts to detect and deter these transnational syndicates who use the anonymity of the internet to commit crimes. I would like to thank Director CCID, RMP Commissioner of Police, Dato’ Mohd Kamarudin Md Din, and their officers for their strong support and commitment in tackling transnational crime syndicates that target our citizens. We will also take firm action against the money mules in Singapore, who sell their bank accounts to these job syndicates or actively help them to launder their proceeds of crime. While we continue this fight against scams, we cannot do this alone. Fighting crime is a community effort and members of the public must take steps to protect themselves and their loved ones from falling prey to scammers operating on social media offering jobs that seem too good to be true.”
The Police would like to caution job seekers to be wary of job advertisements that promise the convenience of working from home or a high salary for relatively simple job responsibilities. Legitimate businesses will not require job seekers to use their own bank accounts to receive money on behalf of the businesses, or to make upfront payments to secure the job offers and earn commissions. To avoid being involved in money laundering activities, members of the public should always reject requests to use their personal bank accounts to receive and transfer money for others.
The Police would like to advise members of the public to follow these crime prevention measures:
- E-commerce platforms will never ask you to transfer money to third party accounts on the promise that they will return your money along with a commission. If it is too good to be true, it probably is. Do not accept dubious job offers that offer lucrative returns for minimal effort.
- If you are randomly invited to a messaging application group chat that you suspect to be promoting a scam, report the group chat using the in-app function immediately to prevent others from falling prey to scams.
- Always verify the authenticity of the job with the official e-commerce platform’s websites. Never transfer money to strangers.
- Do not click on suspicious URLs or download applications from unknown sources.
- Do not use your bank account to conduct transactions on behalf of others. Users who do so may have unwittingly committed an offence by assisting to launder money from criminal activities.
When in doubt, you may also call the Anti-Scam Hotline at 1800-722-6688 or visit www.scamalert.sg to seek scam-related advice. Join the ‘Let’s Fight Scams’ campaign at www.scamalert.sg/fight by signing up as an advocate to receive up-to-date messages and share them with your family and friends. Fighting scams is a community effort. Together, we can help stop scams and prevent our loved ones from becoming the next scam victim.
Exhibits seized during CCID’s raid (Photos credit – CCID RMP)
Photos of arrests
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
26 October 2021 @ 7:30 PM