18 Singaporean money mules arrested

SINGAPORE — Some might have been duped into a fictitious relationship online and convinced to assist in fund transfers out of the country, others could have been recruited through job advertisements to remit money for a commission, while a minority were blogshop owners who could have been unwittingly made use of.

These are the typical profiles of what the police term “money mules” — 18 of whom were arrested in a two-day operation that ended yesterday.

The police said the six men and 12 women who had been nabbed were all Singaporeans aged between 16 and 47.

They consisted of students, the unemployed and a mix of blue- and white-collar workers.

Warning the public of such Multiple Payment Online Purchase (MPOP) scams, police deputy assistant commissioner Lian Ghim Hua, commander of the Ang Mo Kio Police Division, said: “Generally, from our investigations of past cases, we find that many of these people take on such roles as money mules out of greed.”

The mid-year crime statistics released by the police last week showed there were 302 cases of MPOP scams between January and June — a sharp spike from the same period last year, when there were only 13 cases.

In total, victims of such scams in the first half of the year lost at least S$237,000. None have recovered their money.

DAC Lim said the jump in the number of cases was a concern. As more people engage in e-commerce and online shopping, the police are stepping up efforts to raise awareness and warn people against falling prey to such scams and potentially getting involved as money mules, he added.

Such scams could work through cheats posing as sellers of electronic gadgets, such as smartphones or tablets, who do not deliver on orders after collecting payment.

Some also dupe victims into making repeated payments on the pretext of mixed-up delivery orders or additional customs fees or insurance.

Scammers use local mobile phone numbers to send Whatsapp messages to victims and utilise local bank accounts of money mules, causing victims to lower their guard.

Under the modus operandi, blogshop owners could also be made use of. The conmen would buy items from a blogshop and get victims to transfer money — usually in excess of the costs of the items — to the account of the blogshop owner.

Then, the conmen would contact the blogshop owner, claiming they had transferred too much money by mistake and asking for the excess sum to be wired to an overseas account.

The police said potential mules are usually recruited by scammers via social-networking sites. The conmen would adopt various guises, such as claiming to offer a business opportunity for a mule to earn a commission by remitting money. They might also claim to be seeking a romantic relationship and coax a mule to remit funds in the name of love.

The police advised the public not to help online acquaintances make fund transfers or remittances and not to reveal personal information to strangers.

One of the scam victims was a 20-year-old man who was swindled of S$400. He tried to buy a bicycle, which had a market value of about S$1,000, from an online advertisement touting it for S$400.

The person who put up the ad claimed that it was the last bicycle on sale as part of a Hari Raya promotion.

The victim, who is serving National Service, received via Whatsapp what were purportedly pictures of the seller’s identity card, his bank account number and his company details.

However, after the victim transferred the money to the seller, the latter continued to delay the delivery of the bicycle.

As the seller could not be reached, the victim tried tracking down the person pictured in the identity card, only to find out that the latter had also been duped by a conman.