The syndicate laundered criminal proceeds from technical support scams in Singapore and other scams in Hong Kong. - ILLUSTRATION: LIANHE ZAOBAO
SINGAPORE: A 23-year-old Singaporean man was among eight arrested for their links to a transnational money laundering syndicate operating in Hong Kong.
The Singapore police, in a statement on Friday (Aug 16), said their joint effort with the Hong Kong police and Interpol crippled the network, which laundered criminal proceeds from technical support scams in Singapore and other scams in Hong Kong.
The transnational money laundering network was linked to a tech support scam where pop-ups were used as a ruse to phish for internet banking credentials.
The pop-up will appear on the laptops or desktops of victims, claiming that their devices had been compromised by malware and to seek help from scammers impersonating Microsoft or Apple tech support employees.
The victims would then be tricked into logging into their i-banking accounts on the pretext of helping to apprehend “hackers”. This allowed scammers to capture their banking details and perform unauthorised transactions using the victims’ bank accounts.
In some cases, the scammers would guide victims to create cryptocurrency accounts.
Criminal proceeds generated by the tech support scam were found to have been laundered through Hong Kong, said David Chew, director of the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD), a financial crime investigation agency in the Singapore police.
To apprehend the culprits, CAD and Hong Kong police force launched a joint investigation.
This bore fruit between Aug 9 and Aug 12, when Hong Kong’s officers raided three premises there, seizing more than 60 bank cards and cash amounting to HK$300,000 (S$50,800) in the process.
They arrested the syndicate’s suspected mastermind, three of its members and three money mules. The suspects were aged between 33 and 43.
Another HK$1.3 million of crime proceeds were recovered through follow-up investigations.
Intelligence shared by the Hong Kong police force led to the arrest of the Singaporean, who allegedly relinquished his bank account to a criminal syndicate associated with the money-laundering syndicate busted in Hong Kong.
Said Chew: “Cross-border collaboration facilitated by Interpol was key to dismantling this foreign syndicate and deny them the fruits of their labour.”
He added that the transnational tech-support scam syndicate did not just target Singapore, but also unsuspecting victims in many jurisdictions.
The Singapore police reminded members of the public to be cautious when they receive unsolicited computer screen messages that urge them to click on web links, make calls for technical support services or download remote access software.
Between January and July, the Singapore police received 185 reports on technical support scams, which resulted in victims losing at least $17.9 million.
The public should take the following steps immediately if they believe that they have fallen prey to technical support scams:
>Turn off the computer to stop unauthorised access
>Uninstall any software installed at the instructions of the scammers
>Perform a full anti-virus scan on the computer and delete any malware detected
>Report the incident to the bank to stop further activities involving the affected account
>Change internet banking credentials and remove any unauthorised payees added to the account
>Report the incident to the bank and the police - The Straits Times/ANN
