At least 13 Malaysians arrested in one month for allegedly scamming victims in Singapore
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SINGAPORE - At least 13 Malaysians were arrested in one month over their suspected involvement in scamming victims in Singapore.
Most of these scams were government official impersonation scams, which saw $126.5 million lost in the first six months of 2025.
In one of the latest cases involving a Malaysian, Lee Jian Cheng, 31, is accused of being connected to multiple cases of government official impersonation scams.
He is suspected of assisting a scam syndicate to collect cash and jewellery from scam victims and money mules, allegedly collecting over $441,000 in illicit proceeds.
Lee is said to have gone to an open area outside VivoCity to collect cash from money mules. He then allegedly handed the funds to other syndicate members.
He was arrested on Sept 16 and charged in court two days later with engaging in a conspiracy to help unknown individuals retain the benefits of criminal conduct.
Lee was taken back to the alleged crime scene on the morning of Sept 22. At around 10.20am, he stepped out of an unmarked police car and was escorted by four police officers as he walked to a seating area outside the shopping mall.
Wearing a red shirt, black shorts and clear slippers, he walked with his head lowered and his wrists and ankles restrained.
The police officers spoke to Lee, who responded by nodding his head and pointing.
ST understands that when Lee waited to collect the ill-gotten gains, he would sit facing the sea to avoid his face being caught on CCTV cameras at the mall.
After around five minutes, Lee was escorted back to the police car.
On Aug 30, the police arrested a 44-year-old Malaysian man over his alleged attempt to cash cheques amounting to $180,000 in a government official impersonation scam.
On Aug 27, another Malaysian man, 20, was arrested for allegedly facilitating cash cheque encashments of $200,000 which involved an elderly victim of a government official impersonation scam.
On Aug 20, a 27-year-old Malaysian man was arrested for his suspected involvement in job scams.
In these cases, the victims were tricked into handing over money to scammers to upgrade their YouTube channel accounts to receive higher compensations.
On Aug 15, three Malaysian men, aged 28 to 30, were arrested for allegedly acting as money mules to collect cash from victims of government official impersonation scams.
In the first half of 2025, over $456 million was lost to scams, with almost 20,000 cases reported in Singapore.
In 2024, scam victims here lost $1.1 billion, a record high in a single year.
