Job ads on Telegram luring teens in S’pore to work for unlicensed moneylending syndicates: Police
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(From left) Assistant Superintendent of Police Michael Ho from Bedok Division, Deputy Superintendent Alvin Li and Inspector Ong Tiam Huat from the CID’s unlicensed moneylending strike force.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
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SINGAPORE - The proportion of young people who were arrested for unlicensed moneylending offences has more than doubled, as criminal syndicates continue to target young people through job advertisements promising fast cash on Telegram.
The police on June 20 said teenagers aged 14 to 19 accounted for 8.6 per cent of all individuals arrested for such offences between January and May 2024.
They declined to provide specific numbers, but added that young people in the age group had accounted for 3.1 per cent of all those arrested for unlicensed moneylending offences in the same period in 2023.
Commenting on the trend, Assistant Superintendent of Police Michael Ho said young people are being lured into criminal acts by the promise of fast cash.
“They are recruited through platforms like Telegram and also through friends offering money opportunities,” added ASP Ho, who leads the anti-unlicensed-moneylending squad at Bedok Division.
The Straits Times found three Telegram groups with a total of about 150 ads promoting jobs related to illegal moneylending operations.
Those who knocked on doors and left harassment letters could be paid about $100, while splashing paint could earn them between $300 and $750. An ad for “serious runners” to “burn a house” promised $5,000 for the job.
The tactic mirrors the approach taken by scammers who post ads on gambling websites and social media platforms to lure young people to become money mules.
Money mules are typically those who hand over control of their bank accounts to criminals, or who use their accounts to receive or transfer money under the instruction of criminals and scammers.
In March 2022, ASP Ho’s team handled a case where four teenagers aged 17 to 18 were arrested for harassment related to unlicensed moneylending activities.
They had targeted a residential unit in Tampines Street 83. ASP Ho said the victim’s unit was vandalised with paint and graffiti, and her gate was locked with a bicycle lock.
The victim’s residential unit in Tampines Street 83 was vandalised with paint and graffiti, and her gate was locked with a bicycle lock.
PHOTO: SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
Police officers from Tampines Neighbourhood Police Centre and Bedok Division found three of the culprits at a nearby block and arrested them.
They also apprehended another teen who had acted as a middleman between the unlicensed moneylender and the others.
This teen, who secured the job through a Telegram group called “SG Fast Cash”, said he had communicated with a person he knew only as “Lincoln”.
The four boys were each sentenced to 21 months’ probation.
Unlicensed moneylending syndicates post such “fast cash” advertisements on Telegram groups to lure people into doing their dirty work.
PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM TELEGRAM
Recent anti-moneylending stings have seen a number of teenagers arrested. In a five-day islandwide operation from May 27 to 31, police picked up 128 people including a 14-year-old.
A 14-year-old was also arrested
The police said they conducted 12 major anti-moneylending enforcement operations in 2019 and 2023, and noted that the number of people investigated had increased by 8.2 per cent from 1,241 in 2019 to 1,343 in 2023.
ASP Ho said his team has been reaching out to students through their schools, to share with them the consequences of unlicensed moneylending crimes. He added that the police will also engage the parents of youth offenders.
“Some of the youth are actually willing to listen, but some are a bit hardcore and they might not. So, based on experience, we have to see how to engage them,” he said.
The police said loan sharks are not only using social media to recruit runners, but they are also tapping online platforms to target debtors.
Deputy Superintendent Alvin Li said illegal moneylenders are now harassing borrowers on social media platforms.
DSP Li, who is officer-in-charge of the Criminal Investigation Department’s unlicensed-moneylending strike force, said these illegal moneylenders might also make multiple food delivery orders to the borrower’s home, forcing the occupants to pay for the meals.
He said the police are working with telcos, social media companies and food delivery firms to understand the measures they have to introduce to prevent unlicensed moneylending harassment.
Inspector Ong Tiam Huat, who is also with the strike force and has 19 years’ experience investigating unlicensed moneylending syndicates, said those who promote services provided by loan sharks can also face serious consequences.
In March 2024, a domestic worker from Indonesia was sentenced to eight weeks’ jail after she posted advertisements on her TikTok account
DSP Li said unlicensed moneylending syndicates will continue to evolve and exploit the easiest ways to harass borrowers and their family members.
“They will stop at nothing. We will continue to monitor the trend, the tactics, and work with the various stakeholders to disrupt their activities, and identify and prosecute these offenders,” he added.
