Woman allegedly involved in govt official impersonation scam charged

SINGAPORE – A woman who was allegedly helping to facilitate a government official impersonation scam was charged in the State Courts on June 16.

This comes following multiple police reports made by victims between June 2 and 11.

Victims reportedly transferred their monies to a credit card, after falling to ruses by scammers claiming to be employees of the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

During investigations, the owner of the credit card was also found to be a victim of the same scam. He had purportedly been asked to apply for the card before handing over it and its credentials to the scammer.

Kina Kinergy Chua, 48, was arrested on June 14 after she attempted to use the victim’s credit card to buy a gold chain worth more than $12,000 at a jewellery store.

She was later found to have made more than $262,000 in unauthorised transactions with other credit cards not belonging to her.

Court documents do not reveal how she was flagged and arrested.

She will continue to be remanded for further investigations. Her case will be mentioned again on June 23.

Chua allegedly locked in the credit card details into an app on her mobile phone, and was using the monies to buy gold bars and jewellery to hand over to the scammers.

On June 16, she was charged with one count of cheating. If found guilty, Chua can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.

On June 15, the police urge merchants and sales staff to adopt proper procedures whenever processing credit card transactions.

“They should look out for the name and security features on the card face, and contact their processing bank immediately for advice if they detect anything suspicious,” said the police.

All credit and debit card holders should inform their respective banks immediately if their cards are lost or stolen.