PUBLISHED ONApril 01, 2026 1:32 AMBYSean LerA 29-year-old Malaysian man and a 19-year-old Singaporean man were arrested on Monday (March 30) for their alleged involvement in a case of government official impersonation scam.
The 29-year-old is also the tenth Malaysian to be arrested for similar cases in March this year.
In a statement on Wednesday night, the police said they received a report from an 86-year-old male victim who got a call from an unknown person claiming to be from telco Simba.
The unknown person claimed the victim's identity was used to purchase equipment.
He was then contacted by another person shortly, who claimed to be an officer from the Ministry of Law.
The "officer" directed the victim to transfer close to $13,000 to a specified bank account to prove that he did not purchase the equipment.
The male victim complied and transferred the requested amount accordingly. He only realised that he has been scammed after he told his family about the matter.
The two men were later identified by officers from the police's Anti-Scam Command and Immigration and Checkpoints Authority after an operation was mounted to trace the withdrawals made from the said bank account.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the Singaporean man had relinquished control of his bank account to an unknown person for monetary benefits, while the Malaysian was allegedly tasked by unknown persons, believed to be part of a transnational crime syndicate, to withdraw cash using automated teller machine (ATM) cards provided to him.
The Malaysian man would subsequently hand over the withdrawn cash to the syndicate.
He will be charged in court on Wednesday (April 1) with the offence of assisting another to retain benefits from criminal conduct.
If found guilty, the Malaysian man could be jailed for up to 10 years, fined up to $100,000, or both.
Investigations into the 19-year-old Singapore man are still ongoing.
On March 24, a 27-year-old Malaysian man — the ninth case last month — was arrested for the same offence.
He was charged in court the next day.
The police said they have observed an increasing trend of Malaysians travelling to Singapore to assist scam syndicates in collecting cash, gold and valuables from victims.
They reminded would-be perpetrators that anyone involved in scams will be dealt with in accordance with the law.
Members of the public are also reminded that government officials will never ask anyone to transfer money over the phone, request bank details, transfer a call to the police, or instruct anyone to install mobile apps from unofficial app stores.
If in doubt, they may call the 24/7 ScamShield Helpline at 1799.
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