Scam victims in Singapore lost a total of S$660.7mil (RM2.24bil) in 2022, up from S$632mil (RM2.14bil) in 2021, figures released earlier in 2023 by the police showed.
To move money within Singapore and out of the country, scam syndicates often recruit money mules to provide bank and Singpass accounts.
Checks by cyber-security firm Group-IB showed that there were 14 Telegram groups alone offering cash for Singpass accounts.
The Straits Times found that there were also five public group chats on Telegram with messages sourcing for both bank and Singpass accounts.
The reason cyber criminals want access to Singpass credentials is because they could use them to open multiple bank accounts, said Tan Hwei Qiang, a fraud protection solution engineer at Group-IB.
With some banks automatically flagging transactions above S$10,000 (RM33,900), scam syndicates often collect several bank accounts to break down vast sums and evade detection, said a regional anti-money laundering director. — The Straits Times/ANN
