2 S'porean members of scam syndicate extradited here after their arrest in Johor police raid

Two Singaporean men, 26 and 34, were extradited to Singapore after their arrest in Johor for their suspected involvement in managing cross-border money transfers for scammers.

On June 26, the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) of the Singapore Police Force (SPF), Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) and Johor CCID of the Royal Malaysia Police (RMP) conducted a joint operation in Johor to cripple a transnational scam syndicate.

Malaysian police raided an apartment complex and arrested three male Singaporeans, aged between 26 and 40, who comprised the syndicate and were allegedly involved in the money laundering of scam proceeds obtained from Singaporean victims.

Since April, the SPF and RMP shared information derived from reported scam cases in Singapore.

The trio are believed to be responsible for laundering the money linked to more than 50 police reports of various scams reported in Singapore involving losses amounting to more than $2.9 million.

Preliminary investigations indicated that the three Singaporeans are believed to have procured Singapore bank accounts through various chat platforms such as Telegram and Facebook to launder the syndicate’s scam proceeds.

Two of them were extradited to Singapore on Friday (June 30) and were to be charged in court on Saturday with assisting another to retain benefits from criminal conduct, which is punishable with a fine not exceeding $500,000, imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or both.

The third man is currently still under investigation by the Malaysian police for a separate offence committed in Malaysia.

Deputy Director of CAD Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police Shee Tek Tze said: “The Singapore Police Force will continue to collaborate closely with the Royal Malaysia Police to target these transnational syndicates.

"We would like to express our appreciation to the Director of Bukit Aman CCID, Commissioner Dato Sri Ramli Bin Mohamed Yoosuf as well as Johor Police Chief Commissioner Datuk Kamarul Zaman Mamat and their officers, for the strong support and commitment in tackling the transnational scam syndicates which target our citizens.”