A 27-year-old Malaysian man, Chim Man Kit, was convicted of one count of possessing property reasonably suspected to be benefits from criminal conduct, under Section 47AA(1) of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act (“CDSA”), and punishable under Section 47AA(2)(a) of the CDSA on 16 February 2021. He was sentenced to five months’ imprisonment.
Sometime in May 2019, the accused gave his Malaysia-based friend access to his POSB internet banking account, purportedly to run a small online gaming business. The accused was paid $500 a month for allowing his friend to use his bank account and received a total of S$1,000 as commission.
On 1 August 2019 at around 4pm, a 41-year-old victim of a China Officials impersonation scam received an automated call from a number, “+65 6222 5325”, claiming to be from Singpost and informing him that he had a package stuck in Shanghai. The victim was then transferred to an unknown male operator, who told the victim that he was implicated under criminal investigations as a registered parcel in his name was intercepted in China and found to contain drugs. Feeling distressed, the victim provided his personal particulars and banking credentials to the operator when he was instructed to do so.
The victim was then told to launch his internet banking application on his phone. He subsequently received multiple pop-up alerts informing him that funds are being transferred, which required his approval. The operator then told the victim to keep approving these pop-up alerts, reassuring him that the alerts are only formalities and no actual money was being transferred from his account. Believing the operator, the victim approved these alerts and unbeknownst to the victim, he had in fact approved outgoing fund transfers from his DBS bank account. He subsequently realised that a total of S$215,800 was fraudulently transferred out of his account to various bank accounts.
Investigations revealed that S$64,800 belonging to the victim was transferred to the accused’s bank account. Acting on his friend’s instructions, the accused attempted to withdraw the S$64,800 on 2 August 2019 but was unable to do so as it had been frozen by the Police. He was unable to account satisfactorily how he came by this sum of money. During Police investigations, he initially claimed that it was a loan from a friend before admitting that he lied. On 16 February 2021, the accused pleaded guilty to one charge under Section 47AA(1) of the CDSA. Another charge of providing false information to a public servant under Section 182 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224, was taken into consideration during his sentencing.
The offence of possessing any property, which may be reasonably suspected of being, in part, directly representing the benefits of criminal conduct carries a fine not exceeding $150,000, or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or both. The Police would like to remind members of the public not to allow others to use their bank accounts for any purpose.
The Police advise members of 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 ask you for personal banking information such as your internet banking passwords, or demand payment through an undocumented medium like a telephone call or other social messaging platforms (WeChat or Facebook); or demand that you surrender cash to unnamed persons.
- 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 behest of such callers.
- Call a trusted friend or talk to a relative before you act. Do not be pressured by the caller to act.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
18 February 2021 @ 3:00 PM