A 39-year-old man will be charged on 23 September 2021 for his suspected involvement in money laundering and providing unlicensed cross border money transfer payment services.
On 11 September 2020 at about 8.50pm, officers from Jurong Police Division conducted a routine check on two men along Choa Chu Kang Avenue 3 and found them to be in possession of a stack of Singapore currency notes. They supposedly claimed that they were acting on the 39-year-old man’s instructions to collect the cash, amounting to $14,730, from persons who had engaged his services to transfer the funds overseas.
Preliminary investigations revealed that, from 4 August to 11 September 2020, the man had allegedly carried on a business of providing cross-border money transfer services, where he allegedly transferred a sum of about $359,500 that was received in his DBS bank account, to persons based in the People’s Republic of China. The transfer services were believed to have been performed without a valid licence.
Meanwhile, during the period of 28 August to 24 November 2020, the Police also received reports from 13 scam victims, who were cheated into transferring money amounting to about $430,500 into the DBS bank account of the 39-year-old man. The 39-year-old man alleged that another man, known as “Aloysius”, had instructed for him to transfer an amount of about $446,400, including the criminal proceeds from the scam, into a separate UOB account before the money was transferred to another overseas bank account.
The 39-year-old man will be charged on 23 September 2021 with the offence of assisting another to retain benefits from criminal conduct under Section 44(5)(a) of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act; and
carrying on a business of providing unlicensed cross-border money transfer services under Section 5(3)(a) of the Payment Services Act 2019. The two men and 13 scam victims are assisting in Police investigations.
Anyone found guilty of assisting another to facilitate the retention of benefits from criminal conduct under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Offences (Confiscation of Benefits) Act, faces up to 10 years’ imprisonment, a fine up to S$500,000, or both. If convicted of the offence of carrying on a business of providing unlicensed cross-border money transfer services under the Payment Services Act 2019, unlicensed individuals may face up to 3 years’ imprisonment, a fine up to $125,000, or both.
Members of the public are advised not to withdraw or transfer any suspicious funds they receive in their bank accounts and to report the matter to the bank and the Police. Should they withdraw or transfer the funds, they may be liable for assisting others to launder monies from criminal activities. Their bank accounts will be frozen, and they will be subjected to criminal investigation and possible prosecution in court.
For more information on scams, members of the public can visit www.scamalert.sg or call the Anti-Scam Hotline at 1800-722-6688. Anyone with information on such scams may call the Police hotline at 1800-255-0000 or submit information online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness. All information will be kept strictly confidential.
Source: Singapore Police Force