On 5 September 2022, a 26-year-old man, Kanda Amandeep Singh (“Kanda”) was convicted for two offences under Section 47AA(1) of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act (Chapter 65A, 2000 Revised Edition) (“CDSA”), punishable under Section 47AA(2)(a) of the same Act. He was sentenced to seven weeks’ imprisonment.
In December 2020, the Commercial Affairs Department received information that Kanda’s bank account in Singapore had fraudulently received a sum of USD21,500 from a suspected foreign victim of remittance fraud in October 2020.
Investigations showed that Kanda’s bank account additionally received another SGD5,000 in November 2020, which is traced to another foreign victim of remittance fraud arising from a tech support scam. The funds received between October 2020 and November 2020 were withdrawn within the same day or the next day via cash withdrawals and funds transfers.
During this period, Kanda provided his bank account details, including its Internet banking credentials, to a third-party who purportedly claimed that he needed Kanda’s bank account to receive monies from his relatives. Acting on the latter’s instructions, Kanda withdrew an aggregate sum of SGD8,900 from his bank account between 16 October 2020 and 17 October 2020. He also withdrew SGD 5,000 on 7 November 2020. He conducted these withdrawals despite not knowing the source of funds and having suspicions about the receipt of funds in his bank account.
The withdrawals were reasonably suspected of being benefits of criminal conduct as they were traceable to alleged foreign victims of remittance fraud. As Kanda had failed to account satisfactorily for how he came by these proceeds, he was liable for two counts of an offence under Section 47AA(1) of the CDSA.
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 of up to $150,000, or imprisonment for a term of up to 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 take takes a serious view on remittance fraud and related money laundering activities and will not hesitate to take stern enforcement actions against individuals who commit these offences and persons who facilitate them.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
05 September 2022 @ 5:05 PM