SINGAPORE — They were offered jobs here that paid between S$2,200 and S$4,400, but Taiwanese duo Wang Wei Ciang and Wang Wei-Ming ended up being part of a global syndicate that carried out police impersonation scams targetting Singaporeans.

The two men, who are not related to each other, were handed jail sentences on Thursday (March 8) for their roles as money mules who collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from the victims and delivering the money to the syndicate.

They each admitted to one count of dishonestly receiving and handing over the cash.

Wei Ciang, 24, was sentenced to three years’ jail. Wei-Ming, 25, was jailed for three-and-a-half years.

The court heard that Wei Ciang flew to Singapore last August after he was offered a job here by a man called Ah Liang, who promised a monthly salary of up to S$2,200. Wei-Ming was similarly drawn to Singapore in July last year with a job offer promising him around S$4,400 a month.

But the two Taiwanese men were instead drawn into a scam involving perpetrators who impersonated police officials in order to gain access to their victims’ bank accounts. Victims who fell prey to the scam would hand over their money to the mules, who then delivered it to the scammers.

Between August 2 to 8, Wei Ciang was instructed by a man called Da Li to collect envelopes containing cash from various victims - amounting to over S$250,000 - before handing them over to Wei-Ming in a male toilet at Chinatown Point.

Wei-Ming also collected money from two other money mules. Between August 1 and 8, he collected more than S$660,000, which was then handed over to a man identified as Tay Kai Wen.

The two Taiwanese men were arrested on August 8. Tay, who took the money to Malaysia, was sentenced to six months’ jail in November last year, the court was told.

In sentencing the duo, District Judge Terence Tay said that as money mules, the two men “have contributed to the difficulty in detection and enforcement by law enforcement agencies of syndicated crimes”.

Explaining the difference in the jail sentences for both men, the District Judge said Wei Ciang’s involvement was more minor than Wei-Ming, and he had no idea that he was engaging in unlawful activities when he took up the offer to come to Singapore.

Wei-Ming, on the other hand, was aware at the outset that he was travelling to Singapore to engage in illegal activities, the judge noted, adding: “He was involved in a number of transactions and had taken steps to ensure the transactions were carried out in secluded places to avoid detection.”

For dishonestly receiving and handing over the monies, both of them could have been sentenced up to 10 years’ jail, and/or fined up to S$500,000.