By Shaffiq Alkhatib for The Straits Times

Copyright tnp

An alleged syndicate member, said to be connected to multiple cases of government official impersonation scams, is accused of collecting more than $441,000 from crime suspects.

On Sept 18, Malaysian Lee Jian Cheng, 31, was charged with engaging in a conspiracy to help unknown individuals retain the benefits of criminal conduct.

Court documents stated that he allegedly collected the amount between July 17 and Aug 1.

His case will be mentioned again in court on Sept 25.

In an earlier statement, the Singapore Police Force said that officers received multiple reports about such scam cases between July 12 and Aug 8.

A police spokesperson said the victims had allegedly handed over cash to unknown men after individuals claiming to be from the Monetary Authority of Singapore contacted them.

The spokesperson added: “Victims… would be informed that their bank accounts had been implicated in money laundering activities, or that their personal information had been compromised, and be prompted to surrender their money or valuables to other persons, or transfer money to a specified bank account to assist in investigations.

“After complying with instructions, the victims would realise they had been scammed… when they failed to receive their refunds, or the scammers became uncontactable.”

Officers from the Anti-Scam Command managed to establish the identity of Lee, who was then in Malaysia.

Their Malaysian counterparts arrested him on Sept 16 and he was handed over to the Singapore authorities the next day.

In an unrelated case, 15 people were charged in court earlier over alleged links to another syndicate that operated out of a scam centre in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Their cases are pending.