Pair charged after they allegedly worked together to cheat 3 victims of nearly $263k
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Police said officers arrested the pair following an anti-scam operation on Nov 13 and 14.
PHOTOS: SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
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SINGAPORE - Two foreigners allegedly worked together to dupe three people into transferring nearly $263,000 in total, over items that included purported investment opportunities.
Chinese national Wang Rui, 33, and Malaysian Sau Young Seng, 37, a Singapore permanent resident, were each handed three cheating charges on Nov 15.
The pair are accused of being part of a conspiracy between June and July 2024 to dupe an alleged victim into believing an online job opportunity posted via WhatsApp was genuine.
The alleged victim is said to have transferred more than $28,000 in total to bank accounts belonging to seven other people.
Sau and Wang are accused of committing a similar offence involving another alleged victim between June and August 2024.
This person is said to have been duped into believing there was a genuine investment opportunity posted via WhatsApp before allegedly transferring nearly $232,000 in total to five different bank accounts.
Sau and Wang are accused of cheating a third person of $2,600 between July and August 2024.
This alleged victim is said to have been deceived into believing an investment opportunity was genuine before transferring the amount to an online trading platform called tradekey.icu.
Court documents did not disclose the reasons behind the trio’s alleged financial transactions.
The cases involving Wang and Sau have been adjourned to Dec 12.
In a statement, police said officers arrested the pair following an anti-scam operation on Nov 13 and 14, and they are suspected to be part of a syndicate linked to one-time password activation services.
A police spokesperson said: “Using local and foreign SIM cards, they created and sold WhatsApp accounts to perpetuate scam activities.
“These WhatsApp accounts were allegedly provided to overseas-based scam syndicates, which used these accounts to target Singapore residents through investment scams.”
The authorities seized more than 6,800 SIM cards, 15 mobile phones and two laptops, and recovered more than $10,000 in cash during the operation.
For each count of cheating, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.
