SINGAPORE – Twenty-four people, aged between 15 and 34, were arrested after a victim lost more than $1.1 million in a week to scammers pretending to be government officials.
Another nine, aged 16 to 70, are under investigation over the case, the police said in a statement on Oct 26. Two of these nine were found to have been scam victims themselves.
The 33 people were hauled up following an islandwide anti-scam enforcement operation conducted between Oct 23 and 24, the police said.
This was after the police received a report involving the impersonation of officials from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Oct 22.
According to preliminary investigations, the victim received an unsolicited call from a scammer posing as an M1 staff member on Oct 14.
The scammer claimed that the victim had an existing mobile plan contract, which the victim denied. The scammer then offered to help terminate the plan, and claimed that the matter would be referred to MAS for investigation into an information leak.
The victim was later contacted by scammers posing as MAS officers alleging that a bank account under the victim’s name was frozen, and that he was required to safeguard his money and assets.
The victim was scammed of more than $1.1 million between Oct 14 and Oct 22, after being directed to surrender his funds and valuables for “investigative purposes”, the police said.
The funds were transferred through several ways.
Gold bars valued at about $350,000 were purchased and handed over to an unknown woman on two separate occasions, said the police.
The victim was also instructed by scammers to register for a cryptocurrency account to purchase and transfer cryptocurrency to wallet addresses specified by the scammer posing as an MAS officer.
