On 24 Sept, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) announced that they have gathered a total of 259 persons to assist with investigations for their involvement in scams in Singapore.
Preliminary investigations revealed that these persons are involved in more than 648 cases of scams of multiple variants.
Source: Mark Baldovino on Pexels, for illustration purposes only
Between 10 and 23 Sept, officers from Cyber Command worked together with seven Police Land Divisions to conduct a two-week islandwide enforcement operation.
They gathered a total of 181 men and 78 women, aged between 16 and 82, over the course of the operation.
These individuals are assisting with investigations for their involvement in scams as scammers or money mules.
According to the police, the 259 persons are involved in more than 648 cases of scams.
The scam variants comprise of:
Reportedly, the victims lost around S$5.2 million to the scammers.
The police are investigating the suspects for offences of cheating, money laundering or providing payment services without a license.
Source: Mikhail Nilov on Pexels. for illustration purposes only
Under Section 420 of the Penal Code 1871, the offence of cheating carries an imprisonment term of up to 10 years and a fine.
The offence of money laundering under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act 1992 carries an imprisonment term of up to 10 years, a fine of up to $500,000, or both.
Under Section 5 of the Payment Services Act 2019, the offence of carrying on a business to provide any type of payment service without a license carries a fine of up to $125,000, an imprisonment term of up to three years, or both.
For scammers and members or recruiters of scam syndicates, they will face mandatory caning of at least six strokes. This can even go up to 24 strokes.
Moreover, scam mules who enable scammers by laundering scam proceeds, providing SIM cards and providing Singpass credentials will face discretionary caning of up to 12 strokes.
These include certain money-laundering offences under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act, Singpass offences under the Computer Misuse Act, and certain SIM-card offences under the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act.
Source: Kindel Media on Pexels, for illustration purposes only
Lastly, the police would like to remind the public that anyone found to be linked to such crimes will be held accountable.
Under the Facility Restriction Framework, individuals involved in mule-related offences may face restrictions on banking services and mobile line subscriptions.
This is to prevent further facilitation of scams.
This even applies to individuals who are under investigation and assessed to be at risk, or have been warned, issued with composition sums, prosecuted, or convicted.
For more information on scams, members of the public can visit www.scamshield.gov.sg or call the ScamShield Helpline at 1799.
Anyone with information on such scams may call the Police Hotline at 1800-255-0000 or submit information online at www.police.gov.sg/i-witness.
All information will be kept strictly confidential.
Also read: 27-year-old M’sian syndicate mastermind arrested for scam & money laundering operations in S’pore
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Featured image adapted from Mark Baldovino and Mikahil Nilov on Pexels.