Man involved in scams where over $5 million was lost allegedly paid others to give up bank accounts
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He purportedly solicited bank accounts from individuals by paying them a commission for every bank account relinquished.
PHOTO: ST FILE
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SINGAPORE - A 20-year-old man, suspected to be involved in procuring bank accounts for criminal activities, allegedly paid others to get them to give up their accounts.
On Wednesday, Nor Harrizan Nor Azhar was slapped with one charge under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes Act (CDSA).
He is accused of transferring $1,000 – believed to be benefits of criminal conduct – to his alleged accomplice Muhammad Marzuki Mazlan, 25.
The police said on Wednesday that Harrizan purportedly solicited bank accounts from different individuals by paying them a commission for every account relinquished.
His arrest on Monday came after extensive investigations following the apprehension of Marzuki on Feb 23, in relation to criminal activities and scam cases in 2021 and 2022 with losses amounting to more than $5 million.
During Harrizan’s arrest, officers seized electronic devices from him as well as bank cards belonging to another person, whose identity was not mentioned in the police statement.
Marzuki was also given one charge under the CDSA on Feb 25. His case has been adjourned to March 3.
The police said they take a serious stance against any person who may be involved in scams. People should always reject requests to use their personal bank accounts to receive and transfer money for others.
On Feb 14, Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam said many money mules arrested cannot be prosecuted due to difficulties in proving their intent to facilitate scams.
He was responding to a parliamentary question about common penalties for money mules
“In short, the issue is not with the penalties in our current laws, but our laws need to be enhanced to make it easier to make out money laundering offences in such scam cases,” Mr Shanmugam said.
The Ministry of Home Affairs is looking into amending the laws to strengthen its ability to deal with money mules.
“We will be introducing new provisions and penalties to the CDSA to impose obligations on individuals to exercise greater accountability and vigilance when transferring money on behalf of others,” said Mr Shanmugam then. He added that the ministry is looking at introducing new provisions to curb the abuse of Singpass.
There were 31,728 scam cases reported in 2022, up from 23,933 in 2021, an increase of 32.6 per cent.
Scam victims in Singapore lost $660.7 million in 2022, up from $632 million in 2021.
The figures released by the police in February mean that almost $1.3 billion was lost to scams in the past two years.
