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SINGAPORE: A Malaysian man who joined a Telegram chat group for “job opportunities” was soon given instructions to collect illicit items, which wound up with him collecting 1,600 gold bars from a scam victim.<\/p>\n
The gold bars, worth more than S$412,000 (about US$319,200), were taken to Malaysia and have not been recovered.\u00a0<\/p>\n
No restitution was made to the victim, a 54-year-old Singaporean woman, who had fallen for a government impersonation scam and thought she was a suspect in money laundering.<\/p>\n
Turah Raju Subramaniam, a 39-year-old Malaysian man, was sentenced to jail for 38 months \u2013 or three years and two months \u2013 on Tuesday (Jul 21).<\/p>\n
He pleaded guilty to a charge of assisting another person to retain benefits from criminal conduct.<\/p>\n
The court heard that Turah was introduced by a friend in Malaysia to potential job opportunities in Singapore.<\/p>\n
When he indicated his interest, he was added to a chat group on the Telegram application and given instructions.<\/p>\n
Turah said he was promised S$50 for each job and given 1,600 ringgit (about S$500) to be split with his friend for food and transport.<\/p>\n
On Nov 6, 2025, Turah was instructed to enter Singapore and go to Kranji MRT station.<\/p>\n
A taxi was booked for him and he was given a photo of a middle-aged Chinese man. He followed instructions to send a photo of himself to the Telegram group.<\/p>\n
When Turah alighted at an unidentified location, he met the Chinese man in the photo.<\/p>\n
The man handed him an envelope, which he did not open as instructed.<\/p>\n
However, Turah asked the man what was in the envelope and was told it was cash.<\/p>\n
He felt “funny” about this, because the envelope felt thick. Later, he admitted that he knew the cash must have been illegally obtained.<\/p>\n
Turah then took another taxi that had been booked for him and handed the envelope to another person.<\/p>\n
After this, Turah supposedly told the Telegram group that he wanted to return to Malaysia.<\/p>\n
However, he made no efforts to do so. He was later told that transport would be arranged for him to head back to Malaysia if he collected one more bag.<\/p>\n
The bag was to be collected from the victim, a 54-year-old Singaporean woman.<\/p>\n
She had received a call from a purported bank’s anti-fraud department, which claimed that she was the victim of identity theft.<\/p>\n
She was also told that fraudulent transactions of S$5,400 had been made, and the matter needed to be escalated to the Ministry of Law, which could assist her with making a police report.<\/p>\n
The call was transferred to someone claiming to be a senior investigating officer from the ministry, who told the woman that she was now a suspect in a money laundering case.<\/p>\n
She was sent documents that purportedly showed she was under a warrant of arrest and an asset-freezing order.<\/p>\n
The victim began panicking and was told she could be protected under a “priority financial check”, which would change her status from suspect to witness.<\/p>\n
She was transferred to another person claiming to be a police officer. This person told her to transfer S$1 million from her bank account to her credit card.<\/p>\n
The woman did so while being instructed by the person and sharing her screen.<\/p>\n
She was then told to buy 2,000 grams of gold bars using her credit card at Mustafa Centre in Little India to fulfil the priority financial check requirements.<\/p>\n
She was told that a plainclothes officer named Bala Krishnan bearing the ID number BK 1505 would collect the gold bars from her. She was given a description of Turah.<\/p>\n
The victim complied and bought 1,600 24K gold bars worth S$412,791.<\/p>\n
Turah, who was told to meet a “Chinese auntie” at an entrance and given a photo of the victim, headed to Mustafa Centre for his “last job”.<\/p>\n
He saw the victim pushing a trolley with five bags and approached her, saying “Bala Krishnan BK 1505”.<\/p>\n
The victim handed him the five bags containing the gold bars. Turah headed to a designated car waiting at a nearby car park.<\/p>\n
The vehicle headed straight to Malaysia and Turah handed the driver the five bags containing the gold bars after arriving in the country.<\/p>\n
He was later arrested in November 2025 when he tried to enter Singapore again.<\/p>\n
The prosecution sought 42 to 44 months’ jail for Turah, saying he had travelled into Singapore to collect the gold bars from a scam victim, “driven by self-interest and indifferent to the potential nefarious purposes” of his instructors.<\/p>\n
“His actions, which facilitated this substantial scam, are emblematic of why the scourge of scams continues unabated in Singapore,” the prosecution said.<\/p>\n
It added that Turah was working for a criminal syndicate that was sufficiently organised to arrange transport for him at every turn and effectively communicate remote instructions.<\/p>\n
For assisting another person to retain benefits from criminal conduct, he could have been jailed for up to 10 years or fined up to S$500,000, or both.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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