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SINGAPORE: A 53-year-old woman will be charged on Thursday (March 18) for alleged money laundering in connection with an internet love scam.
The victim of the alleged scam was a 71-year-old man who made a police report in June 2020. According to police, the man had befriended and developed a relationship with a woman online.
The woman claimed that she had sent her a package containing a large sum of money from abroad, which had been detained by Malaysian customs.
The man was then asked to make “anti-terrorism” fee payments to claim the package. He proceeded to transfer more than S $ 21,000 over two days to the woman’s bank account in June 2020.
Officials from the Department of Business Affairs identified the woman and arrested her Wednesday.
According to preliminary investigations, the woman had allegedly assisted a foreign criminal syndicate in receiving and transferring the proceeds of crime.
She will be indicted in court Thursday with one count of helping another party withhold her criminal benefits under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Profit Forfeiture) Act.
Anyone found guilty of helping another to facilitate the withholding of criminal conduct benefits can be jailed for up to 10 years, fined up to S $ 500,000, or both.
“A SERIOUS CONCERN ABOUT CRIMES”
Members of the public should not give the details of their personal bank accounts to anyone or receive funds from unknown sources in their bank accounts, police said.
If they did, they could be held liable for helping others launder criminal money.
Their bank accounts will be frozen and will be subject to criminal investigation and possible prosecution in court.
“Internet love scams remain a serious crime problem,” police said.
“To avoid falling victim to these scams, members of the public should be careful when making friends with strangers online. They should also be careful when asked to receive and / or transfer money to people they don’t know.”
For more information on scams, members of the public can visit www.scamalert.sg or call the Scam Hotline at 1 800-722-6688.
Anyone with information on these types of scams can call the Police Hotline at 1800-255 0000 or submit information online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness.
