SINGAPORE: Over 1,800 people were arrested during a month-long anti-scam operation by law enforcement authorities from seven Asian jurisdictions.
Victims of the scam cases reportedly lost over S$289 million (US$225 million), the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said in a news release on Wednesday (Jun 4).
Law enforcement agencies from Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, Maldives, Thailand and Macau conducted the operation between Apr 28 and May 28.
An additional 33,900 people are being investigated for their suspected involvement in scam activities.
Those arrested or investigated, aged between 14 and 81, are believed to be involved in more than 9,200 scam cases.
The cases comprised mainly government official scams, investment scams, rental scams and internet love scams among others.
More than 32,600 bank accounts suspected of being linked to scams were detected and frozen by the authorities. Over S$26.2 million was seized from the bank accounts.
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In Singapore, 106 people were arrested and 545 individuals were investigated.
The police said these suspects were involved in more than 1,300 local scam cases which resulted in losses of about S$39.3 million. More than S$7.69 million was also seized from 714 frozen bank accounts.
Further investigations against all these suspects are still ongoing, said the police, adding that they are looking into offences such as abetment to cheating and unlawful disclosure of password or access code in relation to the national digital identity service.
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The police also noted two separate cases of Chinese services impersonation scams in end-April where victims were instructed to transfer S$25,000 and S$45,000 respectively to local bank accounts provided by the scammer.
Singapore’s Anti-Scam Centre found that part of their funds were sent to bank accounts in Malaysia on the same day, SPF added.
More than S$19,000 in total was recovered from the bank accounts in Malaysia with assistance from Malaysia’s National Scam Response Centre.
SPF’s Commercial Affairs Department Director David Chew noted the need for a transnational response to transnational threats in today’s world.
“In today’s digital age, scam syndicates operate without geographical constraints, employing increasingly sophisticated methods across multiple jurisdictions to defraud victims and launder their illicit proceeds,” he said.
“No single jurisdiction has an adequate answer to this scourge, but we are collectively stronger together.”
He also lauded the effectiveness of Operation Frontier+, the cross-border anti-scam collaboration platform that enables law enforcement agencies to work together.
Operation Frontier+ comprises representatives from ten jurisdictions – Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Maldives, South Korea, Australia, Macau, Canada and Indonesia.
“Operation FRONTIER+ epitomises the effectiveness of international cooperation in fighting scams. This joint effort demonstrates our shared commitment to disrupting transnational scam syndicates,” Mr Chew said.
“We will continue strengthening these international partnerships to ensure our citizens are safe from scams and scammers have no safe haven.”
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