Two men and a woman arrested for alleged involvement in government official impersonation scam
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The victim was a 68-year-old woman who had lost about $98,000.
PHOTO: SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
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SINGAPORE – Two men and a woman have been arrested for their suspected involvement in a case of government official impersonation scam.
The case involved scammers posing as staff from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. The victim was a 68-year-old woman who handed over about $98,000, said the police, who were alerted on May 21.
According to the police on May 23, the scammers convinced the victim that she had been implicated in a money-laundering offence and was required to surrender her money for investigations.
The three suspects were arrested by officers from the Anti-Scam Command on May 22 near Bendemeer Road after the victim handed over the money to one of them.
The two male suspects are aged 22 and 38, and the female suspect is 39.
Preliminary investigations showed that the 38-year-old suspect was tasked with collecting cash from the victim and handing it over to the other male suspect.
The 38-year-old suspect and the female suspect arrived together at the location. But only the man met the victim during the transaction.
The other male suspect was loitering in the vicinity when the transaction took place.
The three were identified by the police and arrested after the transaction. They are being investigated for alleged offences of cheating.
The 22-year-old suspect is expected to be charged on May 24, while investigations against the 38-year-old suspect and the female suspect are ongoing.
The 38-year-old suspect was also found in possession of substances believed to be controlled drugs, and the suspected drug-related offences have been referred to the Central Narcotics Bureau.
The police urged members of the public to always reject requests by others to use their bank accounts or mobile lines, as they will be held accountable if these are linked to crimes.
They also reminded the public that government officials will never, over a phone call, ask individuals to transfer money, disclose banking log-in details, install mobile applications from unofficial app stores, or transfer their calls to the police.
