Another Malaysian held in Singapore over govt official impersonation scam

 Following sixth arrest, Singapore police say they observe a rising trend of Malaysians travelling to the city state to assist scam syndicates.

Singaporean police have arrested six Malaysians so far suspected of being involved in scam activities. (AFP pic)

PETALING JAYA:

 Singaporean police say they have observed an increasing trend of Malaysians travelling to the city state to assist syndicates in collecting cash, gold and valuables from scam victims.

This follows the arrest yesterday of another Malaysian for suspected involvement in scams involving the impersonation of government officials, bringing the total to six within two weeks.

The 21-year-old man is expected to be charged today with assisting another to retain benefits from criminal conduct, The Straits Times reported.

In the latest case, the police said they received a report on Jan 29 from a woman who was contacted by an unknown individual claiming to be from a bank.

The caller allegedly informed the victim that there were unauthorised charges on a bank card registered under her name, but when she denied having such a card, her call was purportedly transferred to individuals claiming to be from the law ministry.

“These impersonators created a sense of urgency and fear, falsely claiming the victim was under investigation for money laundering,” The Straits Times quoted the police as saying.

They then convinced the victim to hand over bracelets and jewellery worth more than S$80,000 for “safekeeping” during their so-called investigation.

The woman lodged a police report when she later realised that she had been cheated.

According to the police, the suspect is believed to be involved in at least two other government official impersonation scam cases. - FMT