PUBLISHED ONApril 15, 2026 1:12 PMBYSean LerA 36-year-old Malaysian woman will be charged in court on Thursday (April 16) for her alleged involvement in a case of government official impersonation scam.
The woman is the 13th Malaysian since March this year to be arrested for facilitating scam syndicates to collect cash and valuables obtained from scams.
In a news release on Wednesday, the police said they received a report from a 75-year-old female victim who received a WhatsApp call from an unknown person claiming to be from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
The unknown person claimed that the elderly woman was purportedly implicated in a money laundering case.
She was then instructed to withdraw cash and hand it over to an "agent" to facilitate investigations. The elderly woman was also assured that the money would be returned after the investigations.
The victim proceeded to hand over cash amounting to $10,000 to the Malaysian woman in the vicinity of Jurong West Central.
Police said their officers from the Anti-Scam Command established the identity of the Malaysian woman through extensive ground enquiries and follow-up investigations and arrested her on Tuesday.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the woman had allegedly been tasked by unknown persons, believed to be part of a transnational crime syndicate, to collect cash and jewellery from scam victims before handing them over to other unknown persons.
If found guilty of assisting another to retain benefits from criminal conduct, the woman could be jailed for up to 10 years, fined up to $100,000, or both
On April 4, a 26-year-old Malaysian man was charged in court for the same offence.
The police said they have continued to observe 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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