Three men arrested over gold ingot scam

SINGAPORE — Three male Chinese nationals, aged between 37 and 44, have been arrested for attempted cheating in a scam that involved fake gold ingots.

Two of the men had offered to sell gold ingots to a businessman in his 60s for S$180,000. They claimed to have found the ingots while excavating the ground at an unknown site in Singapore.

To deceive the businessman, they produced a document in old Chinese writing that resembled an old will and a piece of a real gold ingot that he could check at a goldsmith shop.

On Tuesday (Nov 25), the businessman filed a police report about the incident at around 3pm.

The two men and their accomplice were arrested within six hours after the report was made. Two of them were arrested in the Jalan Besar area, while the other was arrested in Hougang.

The three men are on social visit passes and have been in Singapore for about a month. They will be charged in court with attempted cheating tomorrow.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Deputy Assistant Commissioner of Police Daniel Tan, Commander of the Central Police Division, said officers seized more than 200 pieces of mini gold-coloured ingots, a piece of paper with Chinese writings and six yellow gold-coloured mini Buddha statues from the suspects.

The police also commended Mr Chin Khai Song, 47, and presented him with the Public Spiritedness Award for convincing the businessman, whom he has known for more than a decade, to report the matter to the police. The businessman was not present today.

Mr Chin, an associate news editor at Chinese evening newspaper Wanbao, told reporters that two of the men had approached his businessman friend at his office in Jalan Besar at around 5pm on Sunday afternoon.

Mr Chin then convinced the businessman to call the police when the latter asked if the deal was too good to be true. In the two days following Sunday, the businessman continued to receive calls from the two men, asking if he would be interested in purchasing the gold ingots.

The businessman pretended to agree to the deal, and the two men were caught red-handed by the police when they were counting the gold ingots in his office.

If convicted, the three men could be jailed up to 10 years and fined.