Woman allegedly linked to China official impersonation scam charged with cheating
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SINGAPORE - A woman allegedly linked to a China official impersonation scam is accused of cheating two people of more than $40,000 in total by pretending to be an Interpol special agent.
Chinese national Wang Xin, 29, who appeared in a district court on Tuesday, is said to have posed as a Chinese official on April 23, 2021, to cheat an alleged victim of $40,000.
By using a similar method, she allegedly duped a second victim into handing over items including a mobile phone and an iBanking token between April 28 and May 3 in 2021.
The value of these items was not disclosed in court documents.
Wang also allegedly transferred purported ill-gotten gains totalling $315,000 to a bank account between April 26 and May 3 in 2021. These monies were said to be another person’s benefits of cheating.
Separately, she is accused of giving false information to a police officer at the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) on March 29, 2021.
On Tuesday, Wang was handed five charges in total, including two counts each of cheating and dealing with the benefits of criminal conduct. She was also handed one charge of giving false information to a policeman.
In a statement on Monday evening, the police said that on March 25, 2021, officers received a report from an alleged victim who was duped into transferring $10,000 to a bank account provided by a scammer.
The alleged victim was said to have done so to avoid going back to China to purportedly assist in money-laundering investigations.
Through follow-up investigations, CAD officers managed to establish the identity of the bank account holder.
Wang’s pre-trial conference will take place on April 18.
For each count of cheating, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.
And for each count of dealing with the benefits of criminal conduct, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined up to $500,000.
Anyone convicted of giving false information to a public servant can be jailed for up to six months and fined up to $5,000.
