Worrying number of youths arrested for being money mules: Sun Xueling

SINGAPORE - While it is concerning that about a third of scam victims are aged between 10 and 29, it is also worrying that a large number of people in this age group have been arrested for being money mules.

Minister of State for Home Affairs Sun Xueling said this during a Conversation on Safeguarding the Community with Actionable Measures Against Scams (C-Scams) on Friday, an event held by the Scam Public Education Office (Speo) to get the public be more aware about scams.

Over 50 representatives across more than 20 agencies and organisations who work with youth were part of the conversation aimed to prevent this age group from falling prey to scams.

But another concern was young people being a part of scams through their role as money mules.

Speaking to reporters at *Scape, Ms Sun said: “We are thinking about the reasons which have led to these young offenders becoming money mules. Possibilities include them not knowing the severity of the offence.

“They may think that just lending their bank account to someone else without knowing what their true intentions are, or selling their Singpass details for a small sum of money, may not seem like a serious offence to them.”

Money mules are typically those who hand over control of their bank accounts to criminals, or who use their accounts to receive or transfer money under the instruction of criminals and scammers.

Deputy director of Speo Jeffery Chin said aside from keeping young people informed about new scams, deterring them from being lured into becoming money mules is also a reason why C-Scams is important.

“Some youths may even be unaware that lending or selling their Singpass or bank account is illegal. Some may not even know that it’ll lead to people being scammed of their money. So they must be informed,” he said.

On Thursday, the police said 359 people,

the youngest of whom is a 16-year-old,

are being investigated for their alleged involvement in scams or acting as money mules.

Between 2020 and 2022, more than 19,000 money mules were investigated by the police. But only fewer than 250 were prosecuted as it was difficult to prove, under current laws, that they intended to facilitate criminal activities by selling their bank and Singpass accounts.

Scam victims in Singapore

lost $660.7 million in 2022,

 up from $632 million in 2021, bringing the total to almost $1.3 billion lost in two years.

On April 18, amendments to the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act and the Computer Misuse Act were introduced in Parliament, to

make it easier to prosecute money mules

and those who abuse their Singpass accounts in scams as well as other crimes.

Addressing the amendments to the Act, Ms Sun said: “If passed, money mules can no longer say that they did not intend for their bank account to be used to launder scam proceeds. As long as they relinquish control of their bank account or Singpass details without checking what it will be used for, they are liable.”

She added that she received feedback from young people on how ScamShield, an app which can block calls from blacklisted numbers that have been verified as scam-related, can be used to inform the public about the latest scam trends.

“Some youths see it as potentially a resource hub or a forum where people can advise and alert one another about new scam types,” said Ms Sun.

As at March, ScamShield has been downloaded by over 580,000 users and over 7.4 million potential scam SMSes were reported.