SINGAPORE - Three men who initially came to Singapore to study later broke the law when they became involved with a transnational money mule syndicate.

On Wednesday (Jan 5), Nandi Niladri, 24, was given the stiffest sentence of 18 months' jail after he pleaded guilty to three charges under the Payment Services Act and one count of obstructing the course of justice. He had dealt with cash totalling $30,500.

Another man, Akash Deep Singh, 23, who dealt with cash totalling more than $118,000, pleaded guilty to three charges, including an offence under the Act, and was sentenced to a year in jail.

The third offender, Giri Debjit, 24, was sentenced to seven months' jail after he pleaded guilty to two charges, including an offence under the Act. He had received multiple inward transfers totalling more than $61,000.

They were the last offenders linked to the case to be dealt with in court.

Their accomplices, including Tirth Singh, 22; Tenzing Ugyen Lama Sherpa, 23; Mukherjee Sukanya, 24; and Jaspreet Singh, 26, were dealt with in court earlier.

All are Indian nationals.

According to an earlier statement from the Singapore Police Force, the group faced charges linked to the retention of proceeds by a transnational criminal syndicate that was perpetrating "tech support scams".

Court documents do not state if the scammers have been dealt with in court.

Giri and Nandi came to Singapore to study in 2019, while Akash arrived the following year. Court documents do not disclose details of their schools.

The three men later shared a rented home with Mukherjee and Jaspreet.

In 2020, Tenzing introduced Giri and Nandi to a money laundering scheme in which participants allowed their bank accounts to receive cash.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Matthew Choo said: "(Nandi) was instructed to recruit individuals who were willing to use their bank accounts to receive monies as coordinated by (people known as) 'Sandeep Jha' and 'Aman Kumar'.

"(Nandi) was promised a commission of 2 per cent of the monies received (and he) agreed."

Giri also agreed to take part in the scheme. Some time in August 2020, Akash overheard three of his housemates discussing the money laundering scheme and he was also recruited into it.

Nandi, Giri and Akash later carried on the business of providing cross-border money transfers in Singapore.

All three received monies in their bank accounts before transferring them out to people, including their accomplices.

Police said in their statement that on Sept 16, 2020, Singapore's Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) received a complaint from a victim in Canada, stating that he had lost more than $12,500 after falling prey to a scam.

The police added: "The scammer allegedly impersonated a member of staff from a company providing firewall and virus removal services and offered the victim a refund on his pre-paid subscription.

"The victim was allegedly deceived into allowing the scammer to access his computer remotely on the pretext of removing the software from his computer and in the process, his Internet banking log-in credentials were revealed in order to process the (purported) refund."

As a result, the victim's money was later transferred from his Canadian bank account to another account in Singapore. It belonged to Mukherjee, the court heard.

The offenders were caught after CAD officers conducted a raid at their home on Sept 22 that year.

The three men who were dealt with in court on Wednesday have made no restitution.