SINGAPORE, July 30 — Two Malaysian men were arrested at Woodlands Checkpoint after allegedly collecting more than S$39,000 (RM123,500) in cash, gold bars and valuables from two women deceived by scammers posing as officials from Singapore’s financial regulator.
The men, aged 30 and 40, were detained yesterday over their suspected involvement in at least two government official impersonation scams, according to police, Singapore-based media organisation AsiaOne reported.
The cases, reported on July 24 and July 28, involved a similar method.
In each incident, a woman was contacted by someone claiming to be an official from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and told that her bank accounts had been linked to money laundering.
The first victim followed the caller’s instructions and handed S$9,000 in cash to an unknown man, believing the money was required for “investigations”.
The second woman surrendered gold bars worth more than S$20,000, along with valuables estimated at about S$10,000.
Both victims believed the men collecting the items were officers acting on behalf of the authority.
Officers from the police Cyber Command identified the two suspects through ground inquiries and follow-up investigations, with assistance from the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority.
Preliminary investigations found that the men had allegedly collected the cash and valuables before passing them to unidentified individuals and leaving Singapore.
Police said they believed the pair could be linked to several other similar cases.
The men were expected to be charged in court today with assisting another person to retain benefits from criminal conduct.
If convicted, they could be jailed for up to 10 years, fined up to S$500,000, or both.
