SINGAPORE, Oct 28 — Three men, believed to be members of a transnational scam syndicate, were arrested between October 26 and 27 for their alleged involvement in using stolen debit and credit card details to commit payment fraud across Singapore.

The police said on Tuesday (October 27) night that they were alerted to a case at a retail establishment on Rochor Canal Road on Monday night.

A 36-year-old man had earlier bought two graphics cards, valued at over S$2,700 (RM8,600), from a retail store using a mobile wallet.

He later returned to the store about an hour later and attempted to buy more such components valued at over S$4,000.

The store staff alerted security officers on duty after becoming suspicious of the man's behaviour. They detained him and called the police.

Police said preliminary investigations revealed that he had received instructions through mobile application to carry out high-end product purchases including graphics cards and other IT components using a mobile wallet.

After making the purchase, he allegedly handed over the fraudulently obtained items to his accomplices, who were waiting in a vehicle, before returning to the store again.

The two accomplices, aged 25 and 27, were identified by officers from the Central Police Division through follow-up investigations and with the aid of images from closed-circuit television and police cameras.

By then, the duo had left the location in a rental vehicle, but they were separately arrested in the transit area of Changi Airport on Tuesday.

Further investigations revealed that the two men were also allegedly involved in at least one other case of payment fraud at another store, the police said.

Following their arrest, GeForce RTX 5070 graphics cards, an iPhone 18 Pro Max, and several other mobile phones in their possession were seized as case exhibits.

The three men will be charged in court on October 28 with abetment of conspiracy to cheat.

If found guilty of the said offence, they could each face jail of up to 10 years and a fine.

The police warned would-be perpetrators that it is a serious offence to defraud retailers, adding that they take a serious view against anybody who may be involved in scams and frauds.

Members of the public are also advised to be prudent when making online payments using their card details, to visit only reliable websites for online shopping, to safeguard their card details and not to disclose sensitive banking information with anyone.

Those whose credit/debit cards are lost or stolen should immediately call their card-issuing bank. — AsiaOne