PUBLISHED ONApril 04, 2026 5:15 AMBYSean LerA 26-year-old man was arrested on Friday (April 3) for his alleged involvement in a case of government official impersonation cam.
He is also the eleventh Malaysian to be arrested for similar cases since March.
In a news release on Friday, the police said they received a report from a 66-year-old male victim who got a call from an unknown person claiming to be from UnionPay.
After the male victim denied having any insurance premium plan that the unknown person was calling about, he was told the call would be diverted to another person to assist in cancellation.
However, he was contacted by another unknown person claiming to be an "officer" from the Monetary Authority of Singapore
The "officer" told the victim that his identity was compromised and that he was under investigation for money laundering.
He was instructed to cooperate with the investigation which included not disclosing the matter to his family members.
The 66-year-old received a call from the "officer" the next morning and was made to withdraw all his money and hand it over for investigation. They also coached him on what to tell the bank staff.
The male victim complied and withdrew a total of $23,000, handing them to two different persons, on two occasions, in the vicinity of Canberra Road. He only realised that he had been scammed after he did not hear back from them on the stipulated date.
Police said their officers from the Anti-Scam Command established the 26-year-old Malaysian man as the person who collected $4,000 from the victim on the second occasion.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the Malaysian man was tasked by unknown individuals, believed to be part of a transnational syndicate, to collect cash and valuables from scam victims and hand them over to other unknown persons.
The 26-year-old will be charged in court on Saturday 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.
On April 1, a 29-year-old Malaysian man — the tenth case last month — was charged in court for the same offence.
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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