International Business Times
5 days ago
- International Business Times
9 People Arrested, S$1.9M Seized in Police Operation Targeting Scam Activities in Singapore
Officers from the Singapore Police Force's Anti-Scam Command (ASC) and Police Land Divisions' Scam Strike Teams, along with cooperating local banks, carried out an island-wide operation between April 15, 2025, and May 13, 2025, focusing on investment scams, employment scams, and impersonation scams involving government officials.
Working together with local banks, ASC officials confiscated over S$1.9 million in alleged scam proceeds and frozen over 400 bank accounts throughout the operation.
At the same time, members of the Police Land Divisions' Scam Strike Teams conducted raids throughout Singapore to find people who might have given their bank accounts to scammers for money laundering purposes. A total number of 33 people are under investigation, and seven males and two women, ages 18 to 33, were taken into custody.
The police also shut down over 900 online enablers and terminated over 806 phone lines used in the scams by working closely with key industry players, including social media companies, messaging platforms, and telecommunications companies (for telco line reporting).
Forty-two people are thought to have been involved in over 200 scam cases, primarily including investment scams, government official impersonation scams, and employment scams.
The Singapore Police Force (SPF) said in a statement, "Investigations are ongoing into offences under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act 1992, and Computer Misuse Act 1993."
"The offence of assisting another to retain benefits from criminal conduct in certain circumstances under Section 55A(1) of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act 1992 carries an imprisonment term of up to three years, a fine of up to $50,000, or both. For first-time offenders the offence of unauthorized access to computer material under Section 3(1) of the Computer Misuse Act 1993 carries an imprisonment term of up to two years, a fine of up to $5,000, or both," added the statement.
People who may be involved in scams are taken seriously by the police, and those who do so will face legal consequences. In order to avoid being an accomplice to criminal activities, members of the public are advised to reject requests by others to use their SingPass credentials, bank accounts or mobile lines as they will be held accountable for their misuse.
