Police arrest suspected serial conman involved in currency exchange scams

Police have arrested a 59-year-old man believed to be involved in several cases of currency exchange scams.

Last Sunday, police received a report regarding a cheating case involving a 60-year-old victim. Officers from the Clementi Police Division established the alleged conman's identity and arrested him at Geylang Lorong 8 on Wednesday.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the suspect is believed to be involved in at least two such cases of cheating where the victims were cheated of $4600 in total.

The suspect is believed to have identified his potential victims by browsing through the classifieds section in newspapers for contact details of property and sales agents. He would then contact them, pretending to be their ex-colleague or long-time friend.

The suspect would then ask the victims to part with their monies to exchange local currency for foreign currency at higher-than-market rate. But upon receiving the monies, he would become uncontactable.

If convicted of cheating, the suspect can be imprisoned for up to 10 years and fined.

yanliang@sph.com.sg

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