S'pore man, 50, who financed WhatsApp & WeChat scam syndicate linked to S$51 million in losses, jailed & fined S$52,000

A man who financed a criminal syndicate that sold anonymised WhatsApp and WeChat accounts to scammers has been jailed four years and fined S$52,000.

Ronnie Low (Liu Luoli), 50, was sentenced on Jul. 14 after pleading guilty to three charges, including being a member of a locally-linked organised crime group (OCG) and engaging in a criminal conspiracy to acquire benefits of criminal conduct, reported CNA.

Two further charges were taken into consideration for sentencing. If Low cannot pay the fine, he will serve an additional five months in jail.

The SIM cards seized from the syndicate's premises were linked to 2,393 police reports and a total of S$51 million in losses across a range of scams, according to court documents seen by Mothership.

How the syndicate began

The operation traced back to mid-2022, when Alvin Kok Jun Keat, then 31, was looking for ways to earn fast cash and came across an "SMS modem".

This is a device capable of receiving multiple SMS messages sent to pre-registered SIM cards, with the messages retrievable through a connected computer, court documents showed.

Kok devised a business plan around the device: setting up anonymous WhatsApp and WeChat accounts using pre-registered SIM cards, then activating them using one-time passwords (OTPs) received through the modem.

Customers who bought these accounts could conceal their identities while using them for criminal purposes, including scams.

He imported an SMS modem from China and sourced pre-registered SIM cards through Telegram, hiring an unidentified person to advertise the service on the platform.

He then charged US$30 (S$38.50) for 30 days' use of a WhatsApp account, or US$10 (S$12.80) for a WeChat account, with all payments made to a cryptocurrency wallet.

Low's role as financier

Low was introduced to Kok in October 2023 by his friend, 47-year-old Tan Shay Howe, after Kok went looking for investors, according to court documents.

Kok told Low the business was profitable and guaranteed him S$15,000 to S$20,000 a month in returns.

He had asked Low for S$100,000, but Low invested only S$40,000, as he did not have the full sum in cash. Tan separately invested S$25,000 for a cut of the profits.

Low received roughly half of the syndicate's monthly net profits after operating costs, salaries, SIM card top-ups and rental, were deducted.

In total, he made about S$92,651 from the syndicate's illegal activities over the roughly seven months he was involved, of which at least S$6,000 went towards personal expenses such as food and drinks.

Court documents stated that Low knew the business was illegal and that customers were likely using the accounts to carry out scams, and that he was aware payments were made in untraceable cryptocurrency.

The raid and scale of losses

The syndicate's operations shifted twice more — first to a private property on Meng Suan Road in November 2023, then to an empty office space above a car repair workshop on Toh Guan Road in March 2024, after Tan took over the business from Kok when their relationship soured.

On May 29 2024, the police's Anti-Scam Command raided the Toh Guan Road premises and seized 24,000 SIM cards, 27 SMS modem devices, seven monitor screens, seven mobile phones and seven central processing units.

Between November 2023 and May 2024, the syndicate generated S$887,477 in sales profits.

The seized SIM cards were linked to 2,393 police reports made between January and May 2024, with investment scams accounting for the single largest share of losses at S$24.1 million from 392 reports, closely followed by job scams at S$23.2 million from 1,173 reports.

The syndicate's customers were based mostly overseas, including in Malaysia, Myanmar and Cambodia.

Prosecution and defence arguments

Deputy Public Prosecutor Jordon Li sought at least 52 months and two weeks' jail, along with the S$52,000 fine, arguing that Low was a financier of "an elaborate and highly successful illegal business" who had knowingly participated in the syndicate for around seven months.

Li told the court, according to CNA, that Low took "the lion's share" of the profits despite limited day-to-day involvement, which reflected his position at the top of the group's hierarchy.

Li cited the Singapore Police Force's Annual Scams and Cybercrime Brief 2024, noting that scam and cybercrime cases rose 10.8 per cent to 55,810 in 2024, with victims losing at least S$1.1 billion.

Low's defence lawyers sought a lighter sentence of 39 months' jail and the same fine, arguing that Low's role never went beyond that of a "passive financier", unlike Tan, who progressed from investor to owner and operator of the business.

One of the lawyers told the court, as cited by CNA: "If not, everyone is a key player. If everyone is special, no one is."

He added that Low had been in Dubai for most of the period and had no involvement in the syndicate's operations.

The judge acknowledged that Low was not involved in running the syndicate, but noted that his financing had allowed the group to scale up its operations.