Singaporean Man, 23, Arrested for His Suspected Involvement in Government Official Impersonation Scam

A 23-year-old man was arrested on Wednesday, July 9, for his suspected involvement in several cases of government official impersonation scam ("GOIS").

The Singapore Police Force (SPF) said on Thursday, July 10, that they received a report of GOIS involving the impersonation of a government official purportedly from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on July 8. They added that the victim had reportedly handed over more than S$29,000 to the man, a cash mule, after being instructed by the scammer to do so.

SPF said, "Through extensive ground enquiries and follow up investigations, officers from the Anti-Scam Command (ASCom) arrested the man on July 9, when he allegedly attempted to collect more money from the victim."

"Preliminary investigations revealed that the man had allegedly been tasked by an unknown person to collect cash and bring the collected cash to Malaysia to be handed over to the said unknown person. The man is believed to be involved in other similar cases," the authority added.

The man will be charged in court on Friday, July 11, with the offence of assisting another to retain benefits from criminal conduct under Section 51(1)(a) of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act 1992. The offense is punishable by up to ten years in prison, a fine of up to S$500,000, or both.