A total of 27 people will be charged over their involvement in suspected money mule activities in a string of scam cases where more than $4.5 million was lost.
In a media release on Aug 31, the police said the group comprises 20 men and seven women aged between 17 and 61, who had been arrested for their suspected involvement in various scams. These include government and bank official impersonation scams, friend impersonation and job scams, e-commerce scams, investment scams, as well as malware-enabled phishing scams.
They will be charged from Sept 1 to Sept 3 with offences connected to scam-related money mule activities. These offences include:
- Abetment to cheating,
- assisting another to retain benefits from criminal conduct,
- abetting unauthorised access to computer material, and
- unlawful disclosure of password or access code in relation to the national digital identity service.
The police said their investigations found that 26 of the suspects had allegedly relinquished or sold their bank accounts and Singpass credentials to criminal syndicates.
Some are believed to have cheated banks into opening accounts before handing over their iBanking credentials, while others allegedly disclosed their Singpass credentials unlawfully, enabling syndicates to misuse their identities.
One other suspect had assisted syndicates in making ATM cash withdrawals.
Those convicted of helping another to benefit from criminal conduct face up to three years in jail, a fine, or both. The offence of cheating carries the same penalties.
Facilitating unauthorised access to computer material carries a jail term of up to two years, a fine, or both, while those found guilty of unlawful disclosure of Singpass credentials can be jailed for up to three years, fined, or both.
The police reminded the public not to give up their Singpass or bank account details for fast cash opportunities, and added that individuals will be held accountable if they are found to be linked to such crimes.
Close to half a billion dollars was lost to scams in the first half of 2025, with almost 20,000 cases reported.
Losses totalled $456.4 million between January and June, according to mid-year scam statistics released by the police on Aug 30, down from $522.4 million a year earlier. About 1,000 victims lost more than $100,000 each, up from around 700 victims in the same period in 2024.
Vihanya Rakshika for The Straits Times
Dozens to be charged over money mule activities in $4.5m scam cases
