The 28-year-old jobless man, who gained only from one collection, was jailed for a year on Tuesday. He pleaded guilty to permitting the use of his Posbank account for the transfer and withdrawal of money obtained through crime.

Sometime last August, a man, identified as Xiao Zhang, approached Ong along Lorong 17 Geylang. He offered to pay for every bank account that could be used to collect payment from gamblers who'd lost on illegal Internet bets on ball games.

But the syndicate was operating a phone lottery scam, fooling victims into transfering money for taxes or administrative fees on the belief they had won prizes. Between Aug 31 and Sept 22, Xiao Zhang withdrew $8,340 from Ong's account.

Also in September, Xiao Zhang persuaded Ong to open an OCBC account for the same purpose. Officers of the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) got wind of it, and arrested Ong and his accomplice who were about to withdraw $4,000 from the OCBC Geylang branch on Sept 20.

Leung has yet to be dealt with. There was no mention in court of Xiao Zhang's whereabouts.

Referring to a report published in The Straits Times on Jan 22 on the increase of phone scams - while most other offences decreased - police prosecutor Sheik Allaudeen said that victims lost $4 million last year.

'It's extremely hard to detect such offences and to bring the offenders to justice,' he added, and asked District Judge Toh Yung Cheong to pass a 'just sentence'.

Ong was also jailed two months for an unrelated cheating offence last July. He had collected $3,200 from a woman planning to rent his flat in Lorong 7 Toa Payoh and then rented it to another tenant.