M'sian man, 44, tries to cash S$180,000 cheque from woman, 65, at Raffles Place, arrested after UOB staff calls police

After attempting to encash a S$180,000 cheque at a United Overseas Bank (UOB) branch, a 44-year-old Malaysian man was arrested by the police after wary UOB staff raised the alarm on his attempted transaction.

He was later found to be working for a scam syndicate that had cheated a 65-year-old woman by impersonating a government official.

Received a call from 'MinLaw'

On Aug. 29, the 65-year-old woman was allegedly told by someone pretending to be a Ministry of Law official that she had been implicated in a money laundering case, according to a Singapore Police Force (SPF) news release on Aug. 31.

She was asked to consolidate all her funds from various banks into her UOB account for "investigation purposes". She was allegedly assured that the funds would be returned once the investigations were concluded.

The victim complied and transferred close to S$40,000 to an unknown Overseas Chinese Bank Account (OCBC) account.

Handed blank cheques to unknown person

On Aug. 30, the 65-year-old handed over five pre-signed blank cheques to an unknown person posing as an investigations officer.

At about 12:30pm, the police received a call for assistance from UOB regarding a suspicious over-the-counter cash withdrawal request by a man at one of their branches.

Working with the bank's staff, the police's Anti-Scam Command and Central Police Division established the identity of the 44-year-old man and arrested him 30 minutes later.

The man was allegedly recruited by an overseas scam syndicate a few days ago to collect and deliver cash in Singapore, the police said.

He was instructed by the scam syndicate to receive one of the victim's pre-signed cheques from an unknown person before he attempted to encash it at UOB Raffles Place.

A cash cheque and two unknown Malaysian UOB ATM cards were found in his possession.

Charges

The man will be charged in court on Sep. 1 for abetment by conspiracy to fraudulently use a forged document purported to be a valuable security.

The offence carries a prison term of up to 15 years and a fine.

He will also be charged with fraudulent possession, which carries a prison term not exceeding a year, a fine not exceeding S$3,000 or both.

"The police would like to remind members of the public never to transfer monies, hand monies or other valuables to any unknown persons or persons whose identity you did not verify," it said in the news release.

The police also advised the public that Singapore Government officials will never ask members of the public, over a phone call, to:

• Transfer money
• Disclose banking details
• Install mobile apps from unofficial app stores
• Hand over pre-signed cheques
• Transfer your call to the police

Top image via UOB, Canva