A 39-year-old Malaysian man will be charged under the Payment Services Act 2019, for his suspected involvement in carrying on a business of providing a payment service without a licence.
Investigations by Woodlands Police Division revealed that between January 2020 and March 2020, the man had allegedly carried on a business of providing a payment service, by receiving cross-border fund transfers on 97 occasions amounting to $48,488.20 in his bank account for the purpose of carrying out payment transactions in Singapore. The man had responded to an online job advertisement that offered a commission for assisting in providing payment services.
The man purportedly did not have a licence to carry on a business of providing any type of payment service in Singapore and he was not an exempt payment service provider under the Payment Services Act 2019.
The man will be charged in court on 1 June 2021. If found guilty of carrying on a business of providing payment services without a licence under Section 5(1) punishable under Section 5(3) of the Payment Services Act 2019, individuals may be punished with a fine of up to $125,000, imprisonment for a term of up to three years, or both.
The Police would like to caution the public that scammers are recruiting people to transfer stolen money on their behalf. Scammers may advertise jobs that allow you to work from home and offer attractive salaries to perform relatively easy tasks like using your personal bank account to receive and transfer money. Legitimate companies will not require you to utilise your personal bank account to receive money on their behalf. If the money that you receive and transfer is stolen money or linked to crimes, you may be investigated and liable to be charged for committing a criminal offence. You should reject requests to use your personal bank accounts to receive and transfer money for others.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
31 May 2021 @ 7:00 PM