Two M’sian money mules jailed for involvement in DHL parcel scam

SINGAPORE — After entering the country via the Causeway, two men opened bank accounts based on detailed instructions given to them.

Later, they would make more trips to Singapore to try and retrieve their ill-gotten gains from victims of parcel scams.

This was how two Malaysian men — Suhaimi Jaffar, 36, and Mohammad Afiq Ishak, 24 — operated as part of a transnational syndicate that has a network of operators and runners in Malaysia.

A total of 348 people have lost more than S$19 million after falling prey to the so-called “DHL parcel scams”.

Suhaimi and Afiq were sentenced to 20 months’ and 18 months’ jail respectively on Wednesday (Oct 19), after they pleaded guilty to one charge each under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act.

The parcel scam involves fraudsters, who would pose as staff from courier company DHL and tell victims that they had been implicated in various offences, and would need to hand over their bank account details and passwords to resolve the issue.

Having gained access to the victims’ bank accounts, the fraudsters would make unauthorised electronic transfers to another bank account, while simultaneous arrangements were made to withdraw these monies as soon as the transfers were completed.

Twelve people linked to such scams have been arrested. Suhaimi and Afiq are the first among them to be convicted, while the cases for the other 10 are still at the pre-trial stage.

In Suhaimi’s case, one of his victims had received a call in July from a man claiming to be a police officer based in China.

He alleged that the victim had sent a parcel, containing illegal material, to China.

To resolve the issue, the “officer” demanded that the victim reveal her personal and Internet Banking account details to assist with investigations.

Later, an unauthorised electronic transfer of S$32,600 was made from the victim’s bank account to Suhaimi’s bank account in Singapore.

Suhaimi had opened the bank account on July 22 on the instructions of an unknown man by the name of “Azmin” — in return for securing a loan from the latter.

That day, Suhaimi took a bus from Johor Bahru to enter Singapore, where he met two unknown Malay men who helped him buy a local SIM card and gave him a Samsung tablet to keep in contact.

The two men then drove him to a bank in Toa Payoh to open the account before driving him back to Woodlands Checkpoint to return to Malaysia.

A few days later, Azmin contacted Suhaimi, who returned to Singapore the following day.

Suhaimi met up with other individuals and waited at a restaurant until the victim’s money was transferred to his bank account.

He then proceeded to the bank to withdraw the money, but was arrested after bank staff notified the police.

In Afiq’s case, his victims received calls from people claiming to be officers from the Singapore Police Force. Afiq was also promised RM4,000 (S$1,326) if he managed to successfully withdraw the money from his Singapore bank account.

A sum of S$58,000 was deposited into Suhaimi’s bank account before he tried to withdraw S$46,300. As for Afiq, S$45,900 was deposited into his bank account before he attempted to withdraw S$12,600.

All the monies from the four victims of the scams involving Suhaimi and Afiq will be returned to them.

Urging the district court to impose a jail term of between 20 and 24 months for each of the accused, Deputy Chief Prosecutor Leong Wing Tuck said the two men were not the “run-of-the-mill money-mules”.

They were “an important link in the chain of the DHL parcel scam” organised by a transnational syndicate operating from Malaysia.

The trips to Singapore were also specifically made to commit the offences, he added.

Calling for deterrent sentences, Mr Leong noted that such scams are also increasingly linked to official or public agencies, such as the police.

“We must not spare any effort to prevent these scams from eroding confidence in our public institutions and engender confusion concerning them,” he said.

For their offences, Suhaimi and Afiq could have been jailed up to two-and-a-half years and fined up to S$500,000.