A 39-year-old man in Singapore will be charged in court on Jun. 27 for suspected involvement in multiple offences.

He had allegedly committed money laundering, cheating, obstruction of justice and forgery.

Cheated victims of more than S$25,900

The Singapore Police Force said in a Jun. 26 media release that the police had received multiple reports between November 2023 and January 2024 regarding fraudulent bank transactions involving the accused.

The victims reported unauthorised transactions using their bank cards.

Some claimed to have received either an SMS or email from a SingPost impersonator, asking for additional payment to facilitate the delivery of their online purchases.

Modus operandi

Victims were instructed to pay a nominal sum using a debit or credit card to effect redelivery.

They were then redirected to a fake SingPost website via a phishing link to input their card details.

According to SPF, victims lost more than S$25,900 in total.

Allegedly conspired to get POS terminals for criminal use, forged records

Apart from his alleged involvement in bank scams, police investigations also revealed that the man had allegedly acted with a 29-year-old woman to procure point-of-sale (POS) terminals for a transnational criminal syndicate.

To evade police detection, the woman had allegedly engaged with a business consultancy company to rent such terminals.

The terminals were then passed to the syndicate and used to make fraudulent card transactions, billed to the victims' accounts.

Police confirmed that at least two Singapore bank accounts were used to launder proceeds from such transactions.

The pair also conspired to obstruct the course of justice and to forge electronic records with the intention of misleading investigations.

The woman was charged on Jun. 14, 2024.

Charges

On Jun. 27, the man will be charged with one count of assisting another to retain benefits from criminal conduct, which carries an imprisonment term of up to 10 years, a fine of up to S$500,000, or both.

He will also be charged with 23 counts of abetment by conspiracy to commit cheating, which carries an imprisonment term of up to 10 years and a fine.

Other charges include one count of abetment by conspiracy to obstruct the course of justice, carrying an imprisonment term of up to seven years, a fine, or both, as well as two counts of abetment by conspiracy to commit forgery for the purpose of cheating, carrying an imprisonment term of up to 10 years and a fine.

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