Malaysian arrested for scamming $5.4 million from victim

A woman lost $5.4 million in November last year after she was cheated into believing that she had to surrender all her money to Chinese authorities.

Police investigations revealed that she had delivered the money to different strangers at various locations in Singapore over a one-week period. The suspects then left Singapore after committing the crime.

On Jan 16, one of the suspects was arrested in Kuala Lumpur. The 20-year-old Malaysian man was taken back to Singapore two days later with the assistance of the Royal Malaysia Police.

If found guilty, he faces a fine and/or imprisonment of up to five years.

Director of Commercial Affairs Department David Chew said: "We will spare no effort to identify, arrest and charge these criminals and their money mules.

"While they may try to try to leave Singapore to evade responsibility for their criminal acts, this arrest is testament to the continuing resolve of the police, both here and abroad, to bring them to justice.

"I would like to thank the Royal Malaysia Police for their strong support and assistance in arresting the suspect in this case."

Police advise the public to take the following precautions when they receive unsolicited calls to surrender money in order to avoid criminal investigations:

• Ignore such calls and the caller's instructions. No government agency will demand payment through an undocumented medium like a telephone call or other social messaging platforms (WeChat or Facebook); or ask you for personal banking information such as your internet banking passwords.
• For foreigner residents receiving calls from persons claiming to be police officers or government officials from your home country, please call your Embassy/High Commission to verify the claims of the caller.
• Refrain from giving out personal information and bank details, whether on a website or to callers over the phone. Personal information and bank details such as internet bank account usernames and passwords, OTP codes from tokens, are useful to criminals. Do not make any funds transfer at the behestof such callers.
• Call a trusted friend or talk to a relative before you act. Do not be pressured by the caller to act impulsively.

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