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An employee checks gold bracelets at a jewelry store in Singapore April 18, 2006. Photo by Reuters |
Police said they received the report last Friday and made the arrests on Sunday, according to The Straits Times.
The victim had received a call from an unknown individual claiming to be a bank employee and informing her of a credit card registered under her name.
When she denied applying for the card, the caller transferred her to scammers pretending to be representatives from the Ministry of Law (MinLaw) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
They told her she was implicated in a money laundering case and even sent fake staff passes and supporting documents via WhatsApp to convince her.
She was then instructed to move S$1 million from her bank account to her credit card.
The scammers then told her to use the card to buy more than S$412,000 worth of gold from the Mustafa Centre mall in Singapore’s Little India neighborhood and hand it to an unknown person on the same day.
Realizing something was wrong, the woman filed a police report.
Police later identified a 38-year-old Malaysian man as the caller and arrested him when he returned to Singapore on Saturday.
Another Malaysian man, aged 22, was also separately arrested that day, suspected of being involved in similar scams in the city-state.
“Preliminary investigations revealed both suspects were allegedly tasked by unknown persons believed to be part of a transnational scam syndicate to collect cash and valuables from victims,” police said, as quoted by New Straits Times.
If convicted, the men could face up to 10 years in prison, a maximum fine of S$500,000, or both. Those involved in running or recruiting for scam syndicates will also be subjected to caning, with sentences ranging from six to 24 strokes.
Singapore recorded 19,665 scam cases in the first six months of 2025, resulting in losses totaling S$456 million.
The five most common scams, which together accounted for over 70% of all cases, were phishing, e-commerce, job, investment and government official impersonation schemes.
Police also noted a growing trend of Malaysian nationals entering Singapore to help scam syndicates collect cash, gold and other valuables from victims, as cited by Channel News Asia.
