Scammers allegedly pose as MAS officials to dupe man of over S$1.1 million; 24 people arrested

SINGAPORE: Twenty-four people aged between 15 and 34 were arrested by police for their suspected involvement in a government official impersonation scam that saw a victim being cheated of more than S$1.1 million (US$850,000).

Another nine people aged between 16 and 70 are under investigation, said the police in a news release on Sunday (Oct 26).

Police said they received a report involving the impersonation of officials from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Wednesday, prompting an enforcement operation over the next two days.

It was found that on Oct 14, 2025, the victim received an unsolicited call from a scammer posing as staff from M1, who claimed that the victim had an existing mobile plan contract. 

When the victim denied this, the scammer offered to help with the termination and claimed that the matter would be referred to MAS for a purported investigation into an information leak.

The victim was subsequently contacted by people claiming to be MAS officers, who alleged that a bank account under his name was frozen and that he was required to safeguard all his money and assets. 

Between Oct 14 and Oct 22, the victim was scammed of more than S$1.1 million after being told to surrender his funds and valuables for investigations.

The funds were transferred through various means:

• Purchased gold bars valued at about S$350,000 handed over to an unknown woman on two separate occasions
• About S$124,900 worth of cryptocurrency transferred to specified cryptocurrency wallet addresses
• More than S$600,000 transferred through more than 60 YouTrip QR codes
• Approximately S$26,500 transferred to a PayNow number linked to a local bank account

The victim was instructed by scammers to register for a cryptocurrency account to purchase cryptocurrency before moving it to wallet addresses specified by the purported MAS officer. 

The victim was further instructed to make multiple payments through YouTrip QR codes. The scammer had generated the PayNow QR codes on the YouTrip platform and sent them to the victim, claiming they were for payment or verification purposes. 

The victim then opened his banking app and scanned the YouTrip QR codes provided by the scammer. Upon confirming the transaction, the victim's money was transferred directly into the scammer's YouTrip wallets.

On at least two occasions, the bank had contacted the victim when suspicious transfers were flagged for verification. But the victim was coached by the scammers on how to respond to the bank, claiming that the funds were meant for investment and gifts.

On Oct 22, the victim was told to make a transfer of S$26,500 via PayNow. However, when attempting a second transfer to the same PayNow account, OCBC, which identified the suspicious transaction patterns, alerted the Anti-Scam Centre. Following this, the centre engaged and convinced the victim that he had fallen prey to a scam.

It was then found that the funds within the YouTrip accounts were mostly withdrawn at overseas automated teller machines within the same day. In some YouTrip accounts, the funds were depleted through online transfers or payments.

During the subsequent island-wide operation, 23 people were arrested for allegedly selling or renting their payment accounts to criminal syndicates for money. 

It is believed that they had handed over their payment cards and/or login credentials to the criminal syndicates.

A further nine individuals are assisting with investigations. Two of them were found to be government official impersonation scam victims who had opened YouTrip accounts under the instructions of the scammers. They suffered losses of approximately S$1,600 and S$210,000.

One more person was arrested for his alleged involvement in facilitating the sale of an individual's payment account to the criminal syndicate.

The individuals are being investigated for the alleged offences of cheating, abetting unknown persons to secure unauthorised access to the bank’s computer system and money laundering. 

The offence of cheating carries a jail term of up to three years, a fine or both. 

For facilitating unauthorised access to computer material, offenders can be jailed up to two years, fined or both, for a first conviction. 

Those found guilty of assisting another to retain benefits from criminal conduct can be jailed for up to three years, fined or both.

Police said that Singapore government officials, including those from MAS, will never instruct members of the public to do the following things over a phone call:

• Ask you to transfer money
• Ask you to disclose banking log-in details
• Ask you to install mobile apps from unofficial app stores
• Transfer your call to the police

"To avoid being an accomplice to crimes, members of the public should always reject requests by others to use your bank account or mobile lines as you will be held accountable if these are linked to crimes," police said.