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Three men with alleged links to credit-for-sex ring face money laundering charges

SINGAPORE — Three men were hauled to court on Tuesday (July 11) for allegedly serving as money mules in a credit-for-sex syndicate.

Three men allegedly involved in a credit-for-sex syndicate are accused of facilitating a series of offences between April and June. During that period, the victims were directed to make a cash deposit to the three men’s Singapore bank accounts as part of the deal. TODAY file photo

Three men allegedly involved in a credit-for-sex syndicate are accused of facilitating a series of offences between April and June. During that period, the victims were directed to make a cash deposit to the three men’s Singapore bank accounts as part of the deal. TODAY file photo

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SINGAPORE — Three men were hauled to court on Tuesday (July 11) for allegedly serving as money mules in a credit-for-sex syndicate.

The court heard that Eric Lin Weishen, Elson Lim Yunjun and Melvin Tan Meng Kiat helped the foreign syndicate collect cash deposits amounting to S$88,000, and used the money to buy credits on online payment platform Alipay as well as iTunes gift cards — which they then transferred to the syndicate online.

Lin, 34, faces three charges under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes Act for money laundering, amounting to S$33,280.

Lim, 26, and Tan, 24, each face one charge, involving S$36,400 and S$14,800 respectively.

The trio — who face up to 10 years’ jail and/or S$500,000 fine for each charge — are accused of facilitating a series of offences between April and June. During that period, the victims were directed to make a cash deposit to the three men’s Singapore bank accounts as part of the deal.

Credit-for-sex scams typically involve cheats posing as attractive women through social media platforms such as WeChat. These cheats would then lure men into buying online shopping credits or gift cards at AXS machines in exchange for a date or sexual service.

Those who fall for the scam would then be instructed to send images of their purchase receipts to designated email accounts, through which the syndicate would make its claims. In some instances, other members of the ring may contact the respondents to ask for more payments. Victims usually realise they have been conned when they end up making multiple payments without being able to meet the women they have befriended online.

The authorities have flagged credit-for-sex scams as crimes of concern since 2015, with the number of cases spiking to 1,203 that year, up from 66 in 2014. In June last year, the police teamed up with neighbourhood convenience stores to crack down on such ruses.

At least 269 police reports have been made on credit-for-sex scams from January to May this year, with victims collectively losing more than S$762,000.

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