Police bust Malaysia-based job scam syndicate, nearly 60 Singaporeans affected

59 Singaporeans fell victim to a Malaysia-based job scam syndicate that was busted last month, Johor’s police chief said on July 14. Three men and a woman – all from Singapore – were arrested on June 26 as police raided a house in the Johor neighbourhood of Taman Perling.

Singapore police had earlier reported the arrest of three men over their suspected involvement in laundering money linked to over 50 scam cases concerning job, investment, impersonation and possibly others. The syndicate is believed to have caused $2.1 million in losses.

While the three men were handed over to the Singapore police on June 30, the woman was extradited a few days later after a Singaporean court issued an arrest warrant, Johor police chief Kamarul Zaman Mamat said at a media conference.

The arrests were made after the Royal Malaysia Police (RMP) and the Singapore Police Force (SPF) shared information about scam cases reported in Singapore.

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Nearly 60 people fell victim to the job scam syndicate – suspected of offering non-existent jobs in Singapore, he added. The syndicate was potentially active for the past couple of months. But it did not target any Malaysians or take the help of any local bank accounts, the police chief said.

The suspects are believed to have used chat platforms like Telegram and Facebook to collect Singapore bank accounts and eventually launder scam proceeds, preliminary probes showed.

Scammers are constantly looking for bank accounts to launder and move the scam proceeds out of Singapore to avoid detection and confiscation, according to Deputy Director of SPF’s Commercial Affairs Department, Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police Shee Tek Tze.

He advised the public to not pay attention to offers of quick monetary gains in return for the use of their bank accounts.