PUBLISHED ONApril 29, 2026 11:59 PMBYSean LerA 21-year-old Malaysian woman will be charged in court on Thursday (April 30) over her alleged involvement in an investment scam.
She is also the third Malaysian to be charged this week, and the 20th since March this year to be nabbed in Singapore for allegedly helping scam syndicates to collect cash and valuables.
In a news release on Wednesday night, the police said they were alerted to the case on Tuesday when an alert security officer from Ang Mo Kio Hub, who was monitoring the closed circuit television (CCTV), noticed a man handing over a large sum of cash to a woman at the shopping mall.
Officers from Ang Mo Kio Police Division and the Anti-Scam Command who responded to the call interviewed the duo and established that the man was a victim of an investment scam, while the woman was believed to be a money mule and later arrested.
Police said their preliminary investigations revealed that the victim was added to an "investment" group chat on WhatsApp in February this year. In the chat, there were purported investment opportunities and a web link to a trading platform.
The victim, who had first transferred $10,000 to a bank account, believing that it was for investment, had not withdrawn the promised "profit".
He then decided to further his investments and was instructed by an unknown person in the chat to withdraw $50,000 to hand over to an "investment officer" from the company at Ang Mo Kio Hub.
The so-called "investment officer" was the 21-year-old, who was allegedly tasked by unknown persons, believed to be part of a transnational scam syndicate, to collect cash from scam victims and hand them over to other unknown persons.
She will be charged with the offence of abetment by conspiracy to assisting another to retain benefits from criminal conduct — an offence which carries an imprisonment term of up to ten years, a fine not exceeding $500,000, or both.
On April 29, a 23-year-old Malaysian man, Yap Ching Gun, was sentenced to seven months' jail and one stroke of the cane, after he was convicted of money laundering, having collected cash from an elderly victim of an investment scam in Singapore.
He is also the first money mule to be sentenced to caning since caning for scams and scam-related offences came into effect on Dec 30, 2025.
Also on Wednesday, a 27-year-old Malaysian man and a 34-year-old Malaysian woman were charged over their suspected roles in a scam involving the impersonation of government officials.
The police said they have continued to observe an increasing trend of Malaysian nationals travelling to Singapore to assist scam syndicates in collecting cash, gold and valuables from scam victims.
They warned would-be perpetrators, amidst a trend of Malaysians working as mules, that those involved in scams will be dealt with in accordance with the law.
Members of the public are also reminded not to transfer cash, jewellery or other valuables to unknown persons whose identity has not been verified — if it is too good to be true, it often isn't.
If in doubt, they can call the 24/7 ScamShield Helpline at 1799.
[[nid:734807]]
