2 more Malaysians arrested in Singapore over government official impersonation scams

SINGAPORE – Two Malaysian men were arrested on March 21 for their suspected roles in scams involving the impersonation of government officials, bringing the total number of Malaysians arrested over such cases in March to eight.

One of them, a 30-year-old man, is expected to be charged on March 22 with assisting another to retain benefits from criminal conduct, while the other man, a 20-year-old, is slated to be charged on March 23 with the same offence.

This follows an increasing trend of Malaysian nationals travelling to Singapore to assist scam syndicates in collecting cash and valuables from scam victims, the police said in a statement on March 21.

They received a report on March 20 from a 62-year-old victim who had received calls from unknown individuals claiming to be from telco M1 and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

The callers informed her that she had an overdue bill of $350 that could not be deducted from her bank account.

On WhatsApp, the victim was further told that there were purchases of Apple products made using her accounts, and these were delivered to an address in Bukit Batok.

When the victim said that she was not familiar with the address and sought to cancel the transactions, she was referred to an investigation officer purportedly from MAS, who alleged that the victim was involved in a money laundering case.

The purported MAS officer instructed her to declare all her valuables, which included 8.6kg of gold, and directed her to take the gold to the MAS Building in Shenton Way, where the purported officer would identify himself with a codeword and take the gold for inspection.

Upon her arrival, an unknown man approached the victim’s car, uttered the codeword and took the bag before leaving.

Sensing something amiss, the victim asked a security guard at the building about the man’s identity and was told the man was not affiliated with MAS. She then called the police for help.

Following investigations by the Police Operations Command Centre, the Central and Woodlands police divisions, Anti-Scam Command, and Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, the two men were arrested.

The 30-year-old man was caught while trying to leave Singapore, while the 20-year-old was found near Woodlands.

The police believe that both men had allegedly been tasked by unknown individuals, believed to be part of a transnational scam syndicate, to collect valuables including cash, gold bars and jewellery from scam victims, and hand these over to other unknown persons.

If convicted, the men may be jailed for up to 10 years, fined up to $500,000, or both.

The police urged members of the public to avoid transferring cash or valuables to unknown or unverified people; not leave money or valuables at a location for later collection; and not share the screen of one’s device or disclose login credentials to unfamiliar individuals.

For more information on scams, visit www.scamshield.gov.sg or call the ScamShield helpline on 1799.