SINGAPORE, March 24 — A 23-year-old man has been charged for allegedly helping facilitate the collection of 8.6kg of gold items worth more than S$654,000 in a government official impersonation scam, The Straits Times reported.

Ng Kim Boy was accused of conspiring with several unnamed individuals on March 20 to retain the proceeds of criminal conduct, according to court documents cited by the newspaper.

The police told The Straits Times that a 62-year-old woman received calls from people claiming to be from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and telecom firm M1, informing her of an overdue S$350 bill that could not be debited from her account.

The alleged scam continued via WhatsApp, with the woman told that purchases including an iPhone 17 Pro Max and Apple Watches had been made using her accounts and delivered to an unfamiliar address in Bukit Batok.

A man posing as an MAS investigation officer instructed her to declare all valuables for a supposed money-laundering case.

She complied, handing over 8.6kg of gold items to an unknown man near the MAS Building in Shenton Way, who verified his identity using a codeword.

Suspecting something was wrong, the woman checked with a security guard and confirmed the man was not affiliated with MAS before alerting the police.

According to the report, Ng was remanded at the Central Police Division and his case will be mentioned in court again on March 31.