Singapore, Malaysia bust Internet love scam syndicate in cross-border ops

SINGAPORE — A total of 14 suspects were arrested in Malaysia and Singapore in a cross-border operation against an Internet love scam syndicate, the police said in a press release on Monday (Sept 11).

Ten Africans were among 11 people picked up in Kuala Lumpur by the Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) of the Royal Malaysia Police in an operation held from Sept 6-7.

Simultaneously, Singapore Police's Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) arrested three Singaporean men for assisting to transfer the syndicate’s benefits from the criminal conduct.

According to the statement, the suspects are believed to be responsible for at least 7 cases reported in Singapore and 25 cases reported in Malaysia. Victims lost approximately S$245,000 in these cases.

The police said that they have shared critical intelligence with their Malaysian counterparts since February this year of findings from online love scams reported in both countries.

In such scams, fraudsters would cultivate online relationships with victims, and then ask for monies from the victims to pay fines and fees after falsely claiming that they were detained by government authorities, the police said.

"In most cases, the fraudsters posed as successful or attractive individuals."

CAD director David Chew said: “This is yet another testament to the strong bonds between CAD and CCID. Both departments share a common resolve to ensure that transnational fraudsters do not get away with hiding behind the internet to commit crimes.”