Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

Payment processing firm helps police thwart conmen’s bid to buy cryptocurrencies with loot

​SINGAPORE — In a twist to the usual scams, some conmen tried to use the money and names of their victims to buy about S$37,415 worth of cryptocurrencies.

Staff from Xfers, a payment processing firm at an appreciation ceremony by the police. The Singapore-based payment processing company had reacted swiftly and collaborated with the Police to prevent the movement of illicit funds through the use of their platform.

Staff from Xfers, a payment processing firm at an appreciation ceremony by the police. The Singapore-based payment processing company had reacted swiftly and collaborated with the Police to prevent the movement of illicit funds through the use of their platform.

Follow TODAY on WhatsApp

SINGAPORE — In a twist to the usual scams, some conmen tried to use the money and names of their victims to buy about S$37,415 worth of cryptocurrencies.

But their scheme was thwarted by an alert payment processing firm which reported the suspicious purchases, and helped the police recover the funds.

At a media conference on Wednesday (May 23) organised by the Singapore Police Force, the company, Xfers, said its compliance team first smelled a rat in May 2016, based on the size of the orders, how quickly money went in and out, and the profiles of the account holders. About a month later, it informed the police.

Following investigations, the police found that the money belonged to six victims, with the largest amount of about S$25,000 swindled from one of them.

The conmen, who are based overseas, had used common scams which had made headlines here to cheat the victims of their money: The "DHL scam" which typically sees victims getting a call from someone claiming to be working for courier company DHL. The victims will be told that they have a parcel containing illegal goods that has been detained by Chinese Customs.

The conmen in this case also impersonated Chinese officials on other occasions.

The victims fell prey and handed over their Internet banking credentials along with other personal details such as a copy of their NRIC, which was then used to set up e-wallets accounts on Xfers.

The victims lodged police reports between June and July 2016, after they found out that money was fraudulently transferred out of their bank accounts.

Aged between 20 and 43, most of the victims hailed from overseas and are work pass holders, Singapore permanent residents or new citizens.

Inspector Edwin Choo, who was in charge of investigations, said the victims had feared losing their jobs or citizenship, and were susceptible to the scammers' tricks.

Calling on the public, including Singaporeans, to be vigilant, he added: "There are still victims who say that they only go to work, they don't look at [crime] advertisement when they are on the bus, they don't listen to radio or watch television…… so they really don't know what was going on."

The police stressed that a government agency will not ask the public for any banking credentials or personal particulars over the phone. The public can visit https://www.scamalert.sg/ for more information on scams.

The police regularly work with financial firms to look into suspicious transactions. Typically, fraudulent funds are remitted overseas through banks and/or remittance companies. There have been occasions where the loot was used to buy cigarettes and alcohol in bulk.

For helping the police to crack the case, Xfers was given a commendation plaque.

The company's co-founder, Mr Samson Leo, 32, told reporters that it has to balance between being vigilant to suspicious transactions, and making sure payments are processed efficiently. "For this case, a large amount came in, and (the account holder) was trying to very quickly to dissipate the fund, and that was when we held (the transaction)," said Mr Leo.

However, he noted that legitimate customers would be "very concerned" if their transactions cannot go through. "It was a very thin line that we have to tread," he added. "That was the real challenge that the team has to overcome."

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.