PUBLISHED ONJuly 23, 2026 8:47 AMBYEriko LimA 54-year-old woman lost more than $410,000 worth of gold bars after falling victim to a scam and handing them over to a man posing as a plain-clothes police officer.
The Malaysian man, identified as Turah Raju Subramaniam, 39, pleading guilty on Tuesday (July 21) and was sentenced to three years and two months' jail, Shin Min Daily News reported.
According to court documents, she was contacted by someone claiming to be from a bank's anti-fraud department, who told her she was linked to a fraudulent $5,400 transaction.
She was then transferred to another scammer posing as a senior investigator from the Ministry of Law, who falsely claimed she was under investigation for money laundering.
The scammer sent her fake documents stating that she was wanted by the authorities and that her assets would be frozen.
The woman was then instructed to transfer $1 million into her credit card account before purchasing gold bars.
Following the scammers' instructions, she went to Mustafa Centre and bought 1,600 pieces of 24K gold bars worth more than $412,000.
She was later told to hand the gold over to a plain-clothes officer identified as "Bala Krishnan" with badge number "BK 1505".
The court heard that Turah was introduced by a friend in Malaysia to potential job opportunities in Singapore.
He was promised $50 for every completed job, according to court documents, and also received RM1,600 (S$505) to cover transport and food expenses for himself and a friend.
After receiving a photograph of the victim, Turah met her outside Mustafa Centre at around 10pm on Nov 6, 2025.
Believing he was the officer she had been instructed to meet, she handed over five bags containing the gold bars.
Turah then took the bags to a nearby waiting car before travelling back to Malaysia, where he handed the gold over to the driver.
But Turah was arrested later that month when he tried to enter Singapore again.
According to investigations, the gold bars have not been recovered.
For assisting another person to retain benefits from criminal conduct, Turah could have been jailed for up to 10 years, fined up to $500,000 and caned up to 12 times.
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