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SINGAPORE \u2013 A man allegedly opened an account with money transfer firm Wise Asia Pacific to conduct \u201coverseas remittance\u201d.<\/p>\n
The account later allegedly received around \u00a31.4 million (S$2.4 million) from overseas Wise accounts, and the amount included at least \u00a375,050 in crime proceeds transferred by two victims of an impersonation scam in Germany.<\/p>\n
On Dec 4, Sean Koh Chao Lun, 34, who is accused of failing to establish the source of these funds, was charged with carrying on a business of providing money transfer services without a licence.<\/p>\n
At the time of the alleged offence, he was the sole director of a local company called Day Brand.<\/p>\n
Preliminary investigations revealed that he had opened the Wise account under his company\u2019s name.<\/p>\n
Koh was purportedly engaged in the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies, primarily USDT.<\/p>\n
Police said in a statement on Dec 3 that he also allegedly advertised his services on cryptocurrency platforms such as Binance and Huobi, which is now known as HTX.<\/p>\n
Interested buyers would then transfer fiat currency \u2013 money declared legal tender by a country\u2019s government \u2013 to the Wise account of Koh\u2019s company.<\/p>\n
Between May 10 and June 17, 2022, its Wise account allegedly received around \u00a31.4 million from overseas Wise accounts.<\/p>\n
A police spokesperson said: \u201c(Koh) would then transfer these funds to his personal bank account, before transferring them to other local bank accounts as payments for the purchase of USDT from other cryptocurrency sellers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Koh\u2019s company has since been struck off the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority business registry, and his case will be mentioned again in court on Jan 15.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n