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Singapore

Taiwanese man jailed for role in police impersonation scam that cheated victims of S$1 million

SINGAPORE: In two weeks, a Taiwanese national who was part of a transnational scam syndicate collected nearly S$1 million cheated from Singaporeans, and handed over the money to others in the syndicate.

For his role in the scam which involved the impersonation of a police officer, Huang Ying-Chun, 53, was sentenced to six-and-a-half years' jail on Monday (Jun 4).

The court heard that sometime in June last year, Huang was approached by someone known as “Ah Fei” to work for him. Huang was to collect and hand over “documents” in Singapore, and would be paid S$2,700.

He arrived in Singapore on Jun 21, along with fellow Taiwanese and co-accused Chen Peng-Yu.

“Huang knew he was doing something illegal in collecting and handing over the monies,” court documents stated. He collected money belonging to seven victims, aged between 50 and 82, on 13 occasions. 

The oldest victim was the hardest hit, losing S$650,000.

The scam's modus operandi, according to court documents, involves an unknown caller cheating victims into providing their DBS or POSB login credentials. The money would then be transferred into the accounts of Singaporeans, who would be instructed by someone claiming to be a police officer to withdraw the money and pass it to Huang.

Huang would usually deliver the money to Chen. 

Huang was arrested a day after a 55-year-old woman reported losing about S$225,000. She received a call from an unknown person claiming to be a police officer, who told her that she was being investigated for money laundering offences.

Her call was transferred to another unknown person who said he was a police officer from another country. She was then given a link to a website purportedly from the Singapore Police Force, and instructed to key in her Internet banking credentials.

She later realised that her bank account had been accessed illegally without her knowledge, with about S$225,000 transferred to unknown accounts.

For his offences under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes, Huang could have been fined up to S$500,000, jailed up to 10 years, or both. Chen is expected to go on trial in August.

Source: CNA/ja/(gs)

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