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The police arrested three men, aged between 20 and 50 for their suspected involvement in perpetrating scams following an island-wide anti-scam enforcement operation conducted on May 30 and 31.

Another 15 men and seven women, aged between 26 and 65 are also assisting with investigations.

Since March 2023, the police observed that Singpass credentials were misused to open corporate bank accounts online.

Investigations indicated that these corporate account holders had relinquished their Singpass credentials and passwords to the scam syndicates to register companies and open corporate bank accounts to receive funds from victims of investment scams and jobs scams.

During the two-day island-wide operation, officers from the Commercial Affairs Department and seven Land Division arrested three individuals and hauled up 22 others for investigations.

A total of 30 bank accounts were frozen for investigations, and more than S$189,000 in scam proceeds were seized.

Preliminary investigations revealed that they had allegedly facilitated criminal activities by selling their bank accounts and or relinquishing their Singpass credentials to scam syndicates to create new bank accounts.

In some cases, each bank account was sold for as much as S$700.

Some are also believed to have rented their bank accounts to scammers or assisted them with bank transfers and withdrawals for monetary benefits.

Police investigations are ongoing.

The offence of cheating carries a jail term of up to 10 years and a fine.

The offence of money laundering carries a jail term not exceeding 10 years, a fine not exceeding S$500,000, or both.

The offence of unauthorised disclosure of access code carries a jail term not exceeding three years or fine not exceeding S$10,000 or to both.

The police said they take a serious view of these offences and will not hesitate to take action against individuals who may be involved in scams, and perpetrators will be dealt with in accordance with the law.

To avoid being an accomplice to crime, members of the public are advised to always reject seemingly attractive money-making opportunities promising pay-outs for the use of their Singpass account, bank accounts or allow their personal bank account to be used to receive and transfer money for others.

The police added that they would like to remind members of the public that individuals will be held accountable if they are found to be linked to such crimes.

Top photos via SPF