Third man arrested for cheating Singapore woman of $5.4 million in 2017
A third Malaysian man was arrested by the Singapore police on Wednesday (2 January) for involvement in a scam in which a woman was cheated of around $5.4 million.
In November 2017, the 58-year-old victim was tricked into believing that she had to surrender all her money to “authorities” to assist in criminal investigations. She delivered her money to different strangers at various locations in Singapore over a one-week period. The suspects left Singapore soon after receiving the money.
The 29-year-old man, who was not identified, was arrested in Kuala Lumpur with the assistance of the Malaysian police, and brought back to Singapore on Thursday.
He was charged on Friday with the offence of dishonestly receiving stolen property. If convicted, he faces a jail term of up to five years and/or a fine.
Two others arrested last year
Malaysians Looi Yu Chong and Cha Kok Haw were also arrested, in January 2018 and May 2018 respectively, for their involvement in the same case. They have already been charged for money laundering offences.
Commercial Affairs Department director David Chew said, “We will exhaust all means to bring to justice those criminals who seek to escape their just desserts by leaving Singapore after they have committed crimes here.”
Precautions regarding phone calls to surrender money
The police have advised the public to take the following precautions when receiving unsolicited calls to surrender money in order to avoid criminal investigations.
Ignore such calls and the caller’s instructions.
Understand that no government agency will demand payment through an undocumented medium like a telephone call or other social messaging platforms (WeChat or Facebook). Nor will any agency demand that the public surrender cash to unnamed persons, or ask for personal banking information such as internet banking passwords.
For foreigner residents receiving calls from persons claiming to be police officers or government officials from your home country, please call their respective embassy/high commission to verify the claims of the caller.
Refrain from giving out personal information and bank details, whether on a website or to callers over the phone. Personal information and bank details such as Internet bank account usernames and passwords, OTP codes from tokens, are useful to criminals. Do not make any funds transfer at the behest of such callers.
Call a trusted friend or talk to a relative before any action. Do not be pressured by the caller to act impulsively.
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